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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio criticized the welfare benefits Cuban immigrants receive in the United States, Wednesday.

The junior senator from Florida and former presidential candidate urged Congress to end the decades-old program that has allowed Cubans to receive welfare benefits the moment they step foot on U.S. soil.

"There are absolutely people from Cuba that are coming here as refugees," said Rubio, "but we also cannot ignore the fact that many of the people coming from Cuba are no longer coming here for political reasons, and the evidence is that shortly after they arrive, they are going back to Cuba, 15, 20, 30 times a year. You do not normally travel back to a place that you are fleeing from oppression -- much less, repeatedly, over an extended period of time," he said.

Rubio specifically spoke of refugees who come to the U.S. purely for economical reasons.

Other lawmakers are also demanding another look at the Cuban immigration policy.

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