Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he doesn’t understand “why it’s so hard for some to comprehend” that United States visitors aren’t entitled to a visa.
The Trump administration has experienced various speed bumps in pursuing its deportation agenda, including revoking the visas of pro-Palestinian students who have engaged in protests on college campuses. Last month, a federal judge issued a sweeping ruling entitling noncitizen students who have sued the Trump administration to a court hearing if their immigration status changes.
Rubio said part of his job at the State Department is to identify visitors to the U.S. who pose “a threat” to the country’s foreign policy or national security, and take their visas away.
“Fact is that visas are not a right. I’ve said this repeatedly. I don’t know why it’s so hard for some to comprehend it, so let me repeat it again: A visa, no one’s entitled to a visa. There is no Constitutional right to a visa, OK?” Rubio said in a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “A visa is a permission to enter our country as a visitor.”
“If you enter our country as a visitor, and as a visitor in our country — be it a student, a tourist, a journalist, whatever you want to be — and you undertake activities that are against the national interest, the national security of the United States, we will take away your visa,” Rubio said.
“In fact, if we knew you were going to do it, we probably wouldn’t have given you your visa!”
Rubio added that judges are a “different branch of government,” and won’t tell the Trump administration how to conduct foreign policy. However, if they have an issue with the removal process of a U.S. visitor, then this is “an issue for other agencies” in the U.S. government.
“All I can opine to you on is taking away someone’s visas, and no judge is going to tell the executive branch how to conduct foreign policy because that’s not up to judges, that’s up to the executive branch,” Rubio said.
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Rubio highlighted the “golden era of relations” between the U.S. and Hungary during this press conference, which stems in part from ties between Orban and President Donald Trump.
The Hungarian president is seeking reelection this April, and Rubio told Orban that Trump is “deeply committed to your success … because your success is our success.”
