Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said Friday that although the U.S was a compassionate nation, the federal government could not afford to be "the planet's orphanage" when it came to immigration policy, The Washington Times reported.
Brooks said the U.S. could not afford to take in the "billions" of refugees or those fleeing persecution from other countries, such as the caravan of over a thousand people from Central America that was reportedly marching this past week through Mexico toward the southern U.S. border.
"There are literally billions of people who could make that same kind of argument," Brooks told CNN.
"We cannot afford to be the planet's orphanage," Brooks added. "The place where everybody comes and lives off the hard work of Americans and lawful immigrants who are already here."
At one point, the caravan was estimated to include 1,500 people marching toward the southern U.S. border. The number began to drop once President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week he was sending the National Guard to the southern U.S. border to help prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.
People Without Borders, organizer of the caravan, officially abandoned the effort on Wednesday. Hundreds of men, women and children, many from Honduras, were awaiting word from Mexican officials about their status.
Caravan organizers reported that many of the marchers would remain in Mexico while about 200 would continue their journey to the U.S., the Times reported.
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