Immigration Protesters Heckle Rubio Six Times at Poverty Forum
Some yelled, "Rubio doesn't represent the Hispanic community,"
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — — -- Sen. Marco Rubio was interrupted multiple times by immigration protesters while speaking Saturday at the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity, where several other GOP candidates gathered for a policy-driven forum to discuss their ideas of fighting poverty in the United States.
"Undocumented and unafraid!" two women starting chanting, leading to a wave of protests throughout the crowd.
Others yelled, "Rubio doesn't represent the Hispanic community," and held signs that read "Rubio wants to deport me!"
Six separate groups of protesters were all ultimately escorted out of the venue.
Rubio, who was participating on a panel with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, attempted to make light of the situation, suggesting the protesters start while Kasich was speaking.
"Do it when Kasich speaks," he said laughing.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was co-moderating the panel with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, also laughed and said, "I'm pretty used to this."
"We're going to enforce our immigration laws, guys," Rubio said, drawing applause from much of the crowd while the second group of protesters was being escorted out.
He also took the opportunity to make a jab at Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner.
Alluding to Trump's handling of protesters at rallies, Rubio told the audience that he "thought about handling them the way another candidate does, but it's not my event."
Today marks the first time the junior senator from Florida has been heckled so many times at a single event on the campaign trail.