Politics

WATCH: Marco Rubio Takes Margaret Brennan To School Over Deportation Of Pro-Hamas Student

Published

3 days ago

March 16, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sparred with CBS News host Margaret Brennan over the arrest and impending deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who played a leading role in last year’s campus takeover protests.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident who is married to an American citizen, was detained by ICE agents earlier this month due to his association with anti-
American groups and ideologies. His role in the protests — which led to the cancellation of classes, takeover of university buildings and clashes with police — has been cited as a primary role for the pending revocation of his legal residency.

He has in the past stated that the U.S. government must be brought to its knees as part of a “global intifada” and has called for the “total eradication of western civilization.”

Khalil, 30, is not currently facing any criminal charges. He is married to an American citizen, though his legal permanent resident status has been called into question due to his ties to the protests and anti-American views. Khalil is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana and is facing deportation.

His cause has been taken up by left-wing activists and pro-Palestine groups in recent weeks, leading to multiple protests and clashes with police primarily in New York City. Rubio was asked about the administration’s stance on the matter during Sunday’s installment of “Face The Nation.”

“The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes, ‘the administration needs to be careful. It’s targeting real promoters of terrorism, not breaking the great promise of a green card by deporting anyone with controversial political views.’ Can you substantiate any form of material support for terrorism, specifically to Hamas, from this Columbia student or was it simply that he was espousing a controversial political point of view?”

Rubio responded by stating that the administration was well within its rights to revoke Khalil’s green card and intends to repeat the process for additional violators in the future. “And here’s why, it’s very simple. When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest and you’re coming as a student, you’re coming as a tourist or what have you, and in it you have to make certain assertions and if you tell us when you apply for a visa, I’m coming to the US to participate in pro-Hamas events, that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States of America,” the secretary explained. “It’s that simple.”

He went on to explain that had Khalil, or any individual, stated that they intended to lead pro-Hamas occupations of American universities and advance anti-American ideologies, they would never have attained legal status in the first place. “Now you’re here, now you do it. You lied to us, you’re out. It’s that simple. It’s that straightforward,” Rubio said.

Brennan then followed up by asking whether there were any documented links to terrorist organizations on the part of Khalil. “Yeah, they take over, I mean, you should watch the news. These guys take over entire buildings,” Rubio shot back, pointing to documented acts of violence and vandalism at last year’s Columbia protests. “They vandalize colleges. They shut down colleges,” he said, at which point Brennan ignored the answer and asked again for evidence of direct links to terrorism.

“The specific individual was the spokesperson, was the negotiator. Negotiating on behalf of people that took over a campus, that vandalized buildings, negotiating over what? That’s a crime in and of itself, that they’re involved in being the negotiator, the spokesperson, this, that, the other. We don’t need these people in our country,” Rubio answered.

“We never should have allowed them in in the first place. If he had told us, I’m going over there, and I’m going over there to become the spokesperson and one of the leaders of a movement that’s going to turn one of your allegedly elite colleges upside down, people can’t even go to school, library buildings being vandalized, we never would have let him in. We never would have let him in to begin with and now that he’s doing it he’s here he’s going to leave.”