Rubio: Anti-Israel activist’s arrest ‘not about free speech’

The arrest of a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist does not contradict the US administration’s stance on defending free speech, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

“This is not about free speech,” Rubio says when asked if the weekend arrest of Mahmoud Khalil clashed with US President Donald Trump’s championing of the right to express opinions in the United States and in Europe.

“This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with,” Rubio tells reporters at Ireland’s Shannon Airport during a refueling stop after a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia and one of the most prominent faces of the university’s high-profile protests, was arrested by US immigration officials even though the university’s student union and his lawyer said he held a Green Card allowing permanent residency.

“No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a Green Card, by the way,” says Rubio.

“When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is, which is how this individual entered this country — on a visitor’s visa -— you are here as a visitor,” he says.

“We can deny you that if you tell us when you apply, ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa, I am a big supporter of Hamas,'” he adds.