Byron Donalds Blames FL Measles Outbreak On ‘Rampant Illegal Immigration’ in Stunning Exchange With CBS’s Brennan

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who’s running to become Florida’s next governor, blamed “rampant illegal immigration” rather than a lack of immunized children for the measles outbreak in his state, in a stunning exchange with CBS News’s Margaret Brennan.

“In terms of keeping people healthy, nearly all of Florida is below the 95% immunization rate for herd immunity rate for measles,” Brennan said on Sunday’s Face The Nation. “So, is your message to parents, ‘Get your kids vaccinated against that one?”

“No, actually my message to Floridians and quite frankly, to Americans, is, the reason we have seen a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country is because of rampant illegal immigration into the United States from the previous administration. Margaret, before Joe Biden took office —”

“What evidence do you have of that?” asked a stunned Brennan.

“Margaret, we’ve seen outbreaks in El Paso, Texas, in southwest Florida where I live, and many other parts where you know you have a situation that people have come into the country illegally, have not had the vaccination schedule —and not the ones today on young kids that parents do have concerns about — I’m talking about previous ones, the measles vaccine or mumps and rubella.”

“So, you want them to be vaccinated?”

“So, the key thing is, well, number one, you gotta control immigration into your country. You can’t have an entire segment of people, more than 10 million, come into your country without that vaccination schedule. That’s how you end up having some of these outbreaks. And so, that’s number one. And number two, and we can talk vaccinations, but the real issue in health care is the cost for Americans and the cost for Floridians. And we have already seen that the regulatory framework of the Affordable Care Act is driving up costs on every American, and that’s what I want to stay focused on as the next governor of Florida.”

Watch the clip above via CBS News.

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