Rand Paul calls border crisis a 'humanitarian nightmare'

Illegal immigrants continue to pour into U.S.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 2, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ERIC BOLLING, GUEST HOST: While the immigration crisis in this country continues, questions are being raised about the best approach to secure the border. Last night, Charles Krauthammer doubled down on why he still thinks the solution is to simply build a fence. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR")

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House? If they don't work, why is it that the Israeli fence, which separates Israel from the West Bank has cut down terror attacks within Israel by 99 percent? Fences work.

Yes, there are parts of the border where you can't have a fence. Fine. So you don't have it in those areas, and you do heavy patrols. But there's no reason why a rich country like us cannot put a fence across -- a double fence, a triple fence, and patrol it all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Here with reaction to this and more is Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Senator, thanks for joining us. Your thoughts on Charles Krauthammer's idea, let's close the border, but let's build a fence or build two, if you need to?

SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY.: Well, here's the question, Eric. Didn't we finance and fund and legislate for a fence nearly 10 years ago? Why was it never built? And this is the question why some of us who -- I am for some form of immigration reform, but I've steadfastly said I can't vote for something that doesn't have border security first.

Right now, we have a humanitarian nightmare down there, with every child from Central America wanting to come across the border. You can't have a beacon to the whole world to come unless you have a secure border. So that's why many of us conservatives have been saying we have to secure the border first.

BOLLING: All right, Senator, let's turn the discussion a little bit to another story that's all over the newspapers, all over the TV right now. In Iraq, it seems to be this caliphate that's been declared by ISIS, the Islamic State now they want to call themselves, and they want to bring in all Muslim -- want to unite all Muslims into the caliphate.

What is, sir -- what is the U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast?

PAUL: It's a disaster. And here's the thing. We've been funding people who are allied with ISIS. ISIS stronger because we've been funding Islamic rebels in Syria. There's also people coming from Libya, as well. Libya is basically a jihadist wonderland. Syria is becoming a jihadist wonderland. And really, our involvement there has been to help the Islamic rebels.

We say it's the moderate rebels, but one of the groups that we've given anti-tank weapons to has now publicly said they're going to turn those weapons on Israel as soon as they get a chance and they'll try to take the Golan Heights back.

So no, we have no idea who we're giving the weapons to. And guess what? These people will lie to us. They will say they are our friends. They will take our weapons, and then they will turn them either on us or on Israel. It's a big mistake.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: It's a three-way or a four-way or a five-way civil war.

BOLLING: Let's talk about Iran. Now we're going to think about negotiating with Iran. Is this a smart foreign policy idea?

PAUL: Well, here's what I've said. I can't send my son, your son or any American soldier to fight along the Iranian guard to try to retake Mosul. If the Iraqi Shi'ites will not fight for their own country, if they will run and shed their uniforms, who am I to say American soldiers would take their place if they're not even willing to fight for their own country? So I don't think any American soldiers should be on the ground in Iraq. I think ISIS worse because we've funded their allies in Syria. I think Libya is worse because we got involved there, and now there are jihadists roaming all over the Middle East.

BOLLING: Senator, one of the things you and I probably would agree with would be defending Israel. You penned a piece today talking about some of the things that are going on between the Palestinian authority and Israel right now. The -- I believe the group Hamas -- they haven't technically taken credit for the killing of the three teenagers, one of them American, two Israeli. Yet they did say they were looking for more of the same.

Talk to us a little about what's going on with the Palestinian authority, Israel and the U.S.

PAUL: You know, Hamas basically celebrated and responded with glee to the killing of these innocent kids. And I think most Americans would be appalled if they knew that American tax dollars could soon be going to Hamas. We currently give money to the Palestinian authority, but now the Palestinian authority is joining with Hamas in a unity government. And under current law, they could get American tax dollars.

So about two weeks ago, I stood up in Senate and I said, You know what? Let's stand with Israel on this. There's no reason any money should go to a government that has Hamas in it. Currently, the law allows this to happen. I was removing those exemptions and the Democrats shouted me down and the Democrats said, No, you know, we won't -- you know, we're just going to keep the law as it is.

But I'm going to get up next week in the Senate and I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to ask them to pass legislation to guarantee that no money goes to Hamas. Particularly on the heels of these murders, I can't imagine how any senator's going to stand up next week and oppose me on trying to prevent money from going to Hamas.

BOLLING: So we can explain this to the viewers -- so we're sending money to the Palestinian authority. On the Palestinian authority, on their board, they have Hamas members. So literally, if we're sending money to the Palestinians, we're sending money to Hamas.

PAUL: And the news reports have said that Hamas is precisely joining this unity government because they're broke. So they anticipate Uncle Sam, American taxpayers, to bail them out at the same time they react with glee to the killing of three innocent teenagers, one of whom was a U.S. citizen, as well as an Israeli citizen.

So no, I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that no money ever goes to Hamas. And if the Palestinian authority is going to associate with Hamas, they get no money, either. This needs to be set in stone. It needs to be clarified. And I defy the Democrats next week to stand up and block me on this because I think the American people would be horrified to know that their money could be going to Hamas, who really is basically responding with glee to the murder of these three boys in Israel.

BOLLING: Senator, President Obama called for Israel to show restraint. Your thoughts on that?

PAUL: Well, Here's the thing. He wants restraint from Israel. Would he be saying the same if it were three Americans that were attacked by terrorists? No, I think the idea of restraint -- really, what we should be doing is proactively getting involved in cutting the aid. You know, if he really wanted to do something to support the situation, he should come forward publicly and support my bill to cut off aid to Hamas and the Palestinian authority.

But really, the night this happened, do you realize that Hamas lobbed in 20 more missiles into Israel, and then also, Israel had to respond? Israel's being attacked on a daily basis by Hamas. And for the president to -- I think it's presumptuous for the president to get involved with telling Israel how to defend themselves.

BOLLING: All right, very quickly, less than a minute or so. Sir, the poll that came out today said that President Obama is now considered the worst president since World War II. Thoughts?

PAUL: Well, I think he's disconnected some with what the people want. The people want jobs. People want an economy that functions. They want a president who's not against American business. They want a president who will defend the country. You know, we were sorely disappointed by the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who when asked to defend the embassy, was not prepared to defend the embassy. So yes, I think there's a lot of discontent among the country.

BOLLING: So you don't want to -- you don't want to -- you don't want to give him the honor of giving him the number one spot yourself?

PAUL: Yes, I think that, really, people are maybe disappointed with what happened in the 2012 election and reconsidering that election.

BOLLING: All right. Buyers' remorse, sir...

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: Buyers' remorse. We're going to leave it right there. Senator Rand Paul, thank you very much.

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