Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio criticized immigration reform activists on Friday, arguing that immigrants do not have "right" to live in the United States.

"You don't have a right to illegally immigrate here," said the Florida senator during a discussion at the National Review Institute's Ideas Summit in Washington, D.C., adding that he finds rhetoric that suggests undocumented residents have a right to stay in the U.S. problematic.

"And one of the problems I have with the groups out there that are advocating for immigration reform, some of them, is they approach this debate with the argument that they have a right to be here," he said. "It's not a right ... there is no right to illegally immigrate anywhere in the world."

Rubio went on to criticize immigration reform advocates, saying: "What you are appealing to is the best interest of the country. You are appealing to our morality as people. But you can't appeal to a right. There is no right to illegally immigrate anywhere in the world," reports The Daily Caller.

The 2016 presidential hopeful added that he would only be in favor of granting the undocumented with a path to citizenship after "securing the border" and "modernizing" the legal immigration system.

"And in exchange for all of that, what you would get is the equivalent of a non-immigrant, non-permanent work visa to be in the U.S. and you would have to be in that status for a significant period of time," Rubio told the National Review.

"And at some point, if you choose, you could apply for permanent residency, but you'd have to do it through that modernized legal immigration system and you'd have to do it just like everybody else, not a special process or anything of that nature."

Sen. Rubio also blasted President Obama's executive orders on immigration, which would protect up to 5 million undocumented workers from being deportation. According to Rubio, the proposal become a magnet for illegal immigration while jeopardizing our border safety.

Watch video of Sen. Rubio below: