Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration’s crackdown on legal migrants Tuesday throughout a heated back-and-forth with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Van Hollen, a vocal critic of the deportation of alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, knowledgeable Rubio throughout a Senate Overseas Relations Committee listening to that he wished he hadn’t voted to substantiate him for the Cupboard submit, sparking the tense alternate.
“Your campaign of fear and repression is eating away at the foundational values of our democracy,” the Maryland Democrat stated, evaluating the Trump administration’s efforts to deport anti-Israel scholar visa holders and unlawful immigrants to the “Red Scare” of the Nineteen Fifties.
“And I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of state,” Van Hollen added.
Rubio shot again: “Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job, based on what I know about your record and what you stand for.”
“That’s just a flippant statement, Mr. Secretary,” Van Hollen argued, demanding extra time from committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) to reply to Rubio’s remark.
Risch refused Van Hollen’s request, noting that his time was up and “woefully used.”
“I’m actually very proud of the work we’ve done with USAID,” Rubio continued. “For example, I don’t regret cutting $10 million for male circumcisions in Mozambique. I don’t know how that makes us stronger and more prosperous as a nation.”
After extra interruptions from Van Hollen, Rubio turned to the case of Abrego Garcia and referenced the senator’s notorious April 17 assembly with the Maryland man in El Salvador.
“In the case of El Salvador, absolutely, absolutely, we deported gang members — gang members including the one you had a margarita with,” the secretary of state informed Van Hollen. “And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gangbanger, and the evidence is going to be clear in the days to come.”
“He can’t make unsubstantiated comments like that!” Van Hollen shouted because the committee chairman pounded his gavel.
“Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to the federal court of the United States because he hasn’t done it under oath,” the senator fumed.
Rubio went on to claim that the judicial department can not intervene with the administration’s international coverage and that he’s beneath “no obligation” to disclose to the courts what he’s mentioned with international leaders, resembling with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele concerning Abrego Garcia’s case.
Shifting to the topic of scholar visas, Rubio maintained, “I don’t deport anyone and I don’t snatch anyone.
“The State Department does not have officers in the streets snatching everybody. What I do is revoke visas. And it’s very simple. A visa is not a right. It is a privilege.”
The secretary of state continued: “If you tell me that you’re coming to the United States to lead campus crusades to take over libraries and burn down, try to burn down buildings, and acts of violence — we’re not going to give you a visa.”
“Come on, Mr. Secretary,” Van Hollen interrupted. “You’re just blowing smoke here now.”
“There are more coming,” Rubio stated of the potential for extra visa revocations. “We’re going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education.”
