‘That’s pathetic, Mr. Secretary’: Dem senator pummels Rubio on student visas, deportations
A Democratic senator ripped into Marco Rubio’s tenure at the State Department, accusing him of betraying democratic values and enabling authoritarianism.
“I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of state,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told Rubio Tuesday during the most confrontational exchange of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill.
Van Hollen’s denunciation of the State Department head was sweeping, but some of his harshest critiques centered around Rubio’s involvement in the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador and his revocation of visas from foreign students demonstrating against Trump administration policies.
READ MORE: Marco Rubio, secretary of student visas
Rubio responded telling Van Hollen his personal regret of support “confirms I’m doing a good job.”
In his remarks, Van Hollen raised the plight of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University student from Turkey whose visa was revoked because the State Department said she had indicated “support for a designated terrorist organization” through an op-ed.
Despite the State Department presenting no evidence of links to terrorism or anti-semitic statements, Ozturk was shipped to a detention facility in Louisiana. A judge ordered her release on May 9, ruling her detention was a violation of constitutional rights.
Rubio reiterated that student visas are a privilege not a right, especially if a person engages in property destruction or other acts of violence.
“Is that what Ms. Ozturk did? Is that what she did? C’mon Mr. Secretary, you’re just blowing smoke now,” Van Hollen said, speaking over Rubio. “Writing a op-ed to the Tufts newspaper is disrupting the foreign policy of the United States? That’s pathetic Mr. Secretary.”
Rubio said students who “stirred trouble” on campuses would continue to see their visas denied or revoked.
Van Hollen accused Rubio of engaging in a “cash for collusion deal” with El Salvador president Nayib Bukele to ship Abrego Garcia to a mega prison in his country, where Abrego Garcia remains today.
READ MORE: Bukele says he won’t return Abrego Garcia to U.S.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling, the administration has taken no steps to force Bukele’s hand in returning Abrego Garcia, who Van Hollen met with in El Salvador.
“We deported gang members, including the one you had a margarita with,” Rubio retorted, referring to a widely circulated photo of Van Hollen’s meeting with Garcia. Van Hollen did not have a margarita during his visit and has asserted the flowery drink in question was part of a staged photo-op orchestrated by Salvadoran officials to misrepresent the meeting.
Rubio dubbed Garcia “a human trafficker” and “gang banger,” characterizations Van Hollen protested were unsubstantiated.
“Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to federal court in the United States because he hasn’t done it under oath,” Van Hollen said.
The fireworks inside the hearing room rallied both despondent Democrats eager for a more confrontational opposition to the Trump administration and MAGA enthusiasts who see Rubio as a powerful asset to the White House.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 3:24 PM.