Republican presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul issued a sharply-worded statement in reaction to the detention of his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, by Transportation Security Administration agents in Nashville on Monday.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control,” Paul wrote in a statement provided to The Daily Caller. “One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe.”

Paul has been a vocal critic of the TSA, and is the sponsor of the “American Traveler Dignity Act,” which would remove TSA agents’ immunity from prosecution for implementing invasive pat-down procedures.

In Paul’s Monday statement, he noted, “my ‘Restore America Plan,’ in additional to cutting $1 trillion dollars in one year, eliminates the TSA.”

“We must restore the freedom and respect for liberty that once made America the greatest nation in human history,” he continued. “I am deeply committed to doing so as president of the United States.”

Rand Paul was detained on Monday after refusing a pat-down by TSA agents while attempting to board a flight to Washington, D.C.

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