Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan over the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil. Khali, a radical pro-Palestine activist, had his green card revoked and is awaiting deportation. The action, which is based on cold-war era legislation, has provoked a number of protests across the nation.
Rubio justified the deportation by explaining that Khali is a dangerous foreign radical. The Secretary of State said that his green card was conditional and could be revoked at any time. He said that there is no benefit to hosting these types of guests. However, democrats, such as Brennan, have an alternate opinion. Many mainstream critics have said the deportation was arbitrary and based on Khali’s politics.
The clip, which was posted on May 16, 2025, featured a clash between Brennan and Rubio. The CBS host repeated the baseless claim that the deportation was not done for security reasons but for party politics. She said, “Is there any evidence of a link to terrorism, or is it just his point of view?”
Secretary of State Rubio shut down the biased journalist in epic fashion. He said, “Yeah, they take over…I mean, you should watch the news. These guys take over entire buildings. They vandalize colleges [and] shut [them] down,” Brennan rudely interrupted Rubio and tried to interject her biased opinions. She asked again what justified the revocation of Khali’s visa.
Rubio replied calmly but was clearly getting annoyed. He said, “[He] was the negotiator on 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 the being the negotiator, the spokesperson this that the other we don’t want it.”
He continued explaining that these immigrants are not beneficial to America. Rubio added, “We don’t need these people in our country we never should have allowed him 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.
He concluded his remarks by explaining the consequences of these destructive riots. The Sectrtary of State said, “People can’t even go to school. Library buildings are 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 and he’s here, he’s going to leave, and so are others, and we’re going to keep doing it.”
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Watch the clip here:
The comments section support Rubio. One reply said, “We need a law barring any foreign national for engaging in activism or political discourse. They can stir up whatever they want but if they are in the US they need to …mind their own business.” Another noted, “Mahmoud Khalil is a spokesman for CUAD, an organization that supports armed resistance by Hamas. That makes him deportable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(B). Somehow, that’s not good enough for Margaret Brennan & her friends who are unfortunately leading the Democratic party.”
Featured image from embedded video