Secretary of State Marco Rubio called out those who are supporting pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil on First Amendment grounds while many of them have advocated for censorship online in the past.
Rubio made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan when asked about the matter after Khalil was arrested by federal immigration authorities two weeks ago.
“I find it ironic that a lot of these people out there defending the First Amendment speech, alleged free speech rights of these Hamas sympathizers they had no problem, okay, pressuring social media to censor American political speech,” he said. “So I think it’s ironic and hypocritical.”
“But the bottom line is this, if you are in this country to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in if we had known that,” he continued. “And now that we know it, you’re going to leave.”
He pushed back on those trying to block the administration from making the country safer by removing dangerous individuals from the country.
“We don’t want terrorists in America,” he said. “I don’t know how hard that is to understand. We want people – we don’t want people in our country that are going to be committing crimes and undermining our national security or the public safety. It’s that simple especially people that are here as guests. That is what a visa is.”
On @FaceTheNation, @MargBrennan v @MarcoRubio on case of Mahmoud Khalil. Rubio: “I find it ironic that a lot these people out there defending the first amendment speech, alleged free speech rights of these Hamas sympathizers, they had no problem pressuring social media to censor… pic.twitter.com/x557ko0Ecw
— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) March 16, 2025
