KINGSTON, Jamaica —United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio says his country will continue to enforce its immigration rules, assuring that law-abiding permanent residents or visa holders have nothing to fear.

He said that over the last few years, approximately 15 million people entered the US unlawfully and irregularly.

“If tomorrow Jamaica announced that anybody who wants to come can come in, you’re going to get a lot of people too, and it’s going to be very disruptive. So, we need to have immigration laws and we need to enforce them, and that’s what the President is doing,” he noted.

The US Secretary of State was responding to a question posed during a press conference following bilateral talks with Prime Minister Andrew Holness, at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew on March 26.

He noted that Jamaica is not a major source of illegal migration. “It’s not even in the top 10 or top 20 for that matter, I don’t think,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Secretary Rubio warned that severe measures will be imposed on individuals who abuse their visa status or engage in violent activities.

“If you’re a green card holder, you’re legally in the United States unless… you’re some student visa holder who is a sympathiser of some terrorist organisation and is running around in our streets like a lunatic, burning down buildings and attacking students at universities,” he said.

He said that the US will not allow certain categories of individuals to stay in the country.

“If you had told us, I’m going to America, not just to study at your university but to tear up your campus, we would have never let you in, and if you do that once you come into the United States, we’re going to kick you out,” he warned.

-JIS