Marco Rubio lit up Capitol Hill this week—and Rep. Pramila Jayapal walked straight into the flames on Wednesday. What started as a routine hearing turned into a political demolition, as the secretary of State torched the Democrat congresswoman’s defense of a foreign national who sided with terrorists. Rubio wasn’t just holding the line—he was throwing haymakers, unapologetically defending the decision to revoke a student visa from a pro-Hamas agitator. Jayapal tried to play constitutional lawyer and moral authority. Instead, she got steamrolled.
At the center of the clash was Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and former University of Massachusetts student who penned a pro-Hamas op-ed in which she accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and demanded American universities divest from the U.S. ally. That op-ed triggered the revocation of her student visa—something Jayapal claimed was unconstitutional.
“Where in the Constitution does it say that the Secretary of State can override the First Amendment protections of free speech?” she asked. “Is there a footnote that I missed somewhere?”
“There is no constitutional right to a student visa,” Rubio explained.
“She was a guest in the United States on a student visa,” Rubio continued. “No one is entitled to a student visa. We deny visas every day, and we will revoke and consider revoking visas.”
Jayapal, ever eager to play the victimhood card, jumped in with her rehearsed outrage: “You revoked her student visa based on an op-ed, which trumps the supreme law of the land, which is the Constitution.”
Rubio fired right back. “If someone is coming here to stir up problems on our campuses, we’re going to revoke their visa.”
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Jayapal, flustered but determined, insisted, “She didn’t do any of that. She wrote an op-ed… and I’m talking to you about her particular case.”
“That’s her lawyer’s claims and your claims,” Rubio shot back. “Those are not the facts.”
“You revoked her student visa because she wrote an op-ed,” she accused.
Rubio doubled down without blinking.
“Yes, proudly,” he said. “And we’re going to do more of them. We are going to revoke the visa of anyone who’s in the country as a guest who’s here to stir up trouble.”
Jayapal tried pivoting to some nebulous hypotheticals, but Rubio wasn’t having it. “I’m looking to get crazy people out of our country,” he said bluntly.
The exchange then shifted to complaints about how some arrests were being conducted, with Jayapal demanding to know why federal agents involved in the enforcement of immigration laws were not showing their identities.
Rubio’s answer was just as unflinching: “Because then radical crazies will try to hurt them.”
That one line summed up the entire hearing: the radical left is more concerned about the feelings of radical foreign agitators than protecting American citizens or enforcing immigration laws. Rubio wasn’t just defending the revocation—he was laying out a new standard: if you’re in the U.S. on a visa and use your platform to parrot terrorist talking points or incite unrest, don’t be surprised when you get sent packing.
The confrontation was a clear glimpse into the new tone Rubio has brought to the State Department. Gone is the soft-spoken diplomat. In his place is a secretary of State who’s not afraid to call out anti-American rhetoric and take decisive action.
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