In a clash with Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) that went well beyond the senator’s allotted questioning time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and even suggested that no court could tell him how to do his job.
Rubio appeared Tuesday to answer questions at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department’s proposed 2026 budget.
But the verbal onslaught he delivered in defense of President Donald Trump’s extreme immigration policy prompted retorts from the senator after an overlapping back-and-forth about pro-Palestinian student protesters. Van Hollen pointed to Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University scholar who wrote an opinion piece for the student newspaper in defense of Gaza that led to her visa revocation.
Rubio has claimed that he has the authority to revoke any visa if the holder poses a threat to U.S. foreign relations — a rationale that he even applied to Öztürk.
“The bottom line is if you come here to stir up trouble on our campuses, we will deny you a visa,” Rubio said.
