During a halt at Shannon Airport in Ireland en route to the G7 Foreign Ministers gathering in Canada, following speaks on Ukraine, Rubio responded to reporters about the confinement and possible imprisonment of the original Columbia University opposition administrator behind big anti-Israel demonstrations.
He went on to describe that international kids couldn’t just get a student visa and then come to the United States country being an advocate in support of” Hamas, a murderous, barbaric party that kidnaps babies, that murders teenage ladies, that takes captives, that allows them to die in prison, that returns more body than live hostages”.
. @SecRubio on imprisonment of Mahmoud Khalil:” This is not about completely conversation. This is about people that don’t have a proper to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student card. No one has a straight to a natural card”. photograph. twitter.com/eej8vyBLKm— CSPAN ( @cspan ) March 12, 2025
Rubio explained how these protesters have incited “anti-Jewish attitudes and racist actions” on university campuses, all while benefiting from student permits granted by the U. S.
” We may claim your visa”, he stated. ” If you actually end up doing that when you’re in this region on for a card, we may withdraw it”.
” If you end up having a green card, not citizenship but a green card, as a result of that visa while you’re here and]doing ] those activities, we’re going to kick you out. It’s as easy as that”, Rubio said.
Khalil, who was arrested by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend, entered the U. S. on a student card in 2022, after obtaining a green cards. His legitimate group argues that his incarceration violates his constitutional rights.
” It is only about persecution. The United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain, and seek to deport a constitutional permanent resident, primarily because of his calm, constitutionally-protected activism, in this case, activism in support of Israeli human rights and an end to the genocide in Gaza”, Baher Azmy, the lawful director of the Center of Constitutional Rights and a lawyer on Khalil’s lawful team, said on Wednesday.
Rubio responded to criticism that the Trump administration’s actions violated First Amendment rights.
” This isn’t about free speech. This is about people who don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card”, he said.
RUBIO CANCELS 83 % OF USAID CONTRACTS AFTER SIX-WEEK REVIEW
” We have the right to deny you entry for virtually any reason, but I think being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities, turning them upside down, and being complicit in clear acts of vandalism and shutting down learning institutions — there are students at these schools who can’t attend class — is a legitimate reason”, Rubio added.
A federal judge in New York is hearing Khalil’s case on Wednesday to determine whether his rights have been violated. Earlier this week, the judge temporarily blocked his deportation.
