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"It doesn’t have to be complicated: if you have a criminal record and you’re here illegally, you should be deported and banned from re-entering the country," Molinaro said in an opinion piece in the Cortland Standard.
He added: "These people have no place in America, and yet, Homeland Security estimates there are tens of thousands of thieves, rapists and murderers living among us."
Molinaro's District 19 includes Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins counties and parts of Otsego, Rensselaer, and Ulster counties.
The junior Congressman said he "won’t back down" from his views as he's committed to defending upstate New Yorkers from violent criminals.
"It’s time to take our country back, restore law and order, and stop playing politics with people’s safety. I stand with Upstate New Yorkers — not the criminals," he wrote.
Molinaro is in a close race to retain his House of Representatives seat with Democrat Josh Riley.
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