Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends revoking student visas
“A visa is a gift.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended revoking hundreds of student and visitor visas.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said three young children, ages 2, 4 and 7, who are all United States citizens and removed from the country in recent weeks, were “not deported” but “went with their mothers” to Honduras.
The children, from two different families, were put on a flight to the Central American country with their mothers on April 25, according to multiple outlets.
The 4 year old has Stage 4 cancer and is without access to medication or contact with doctors, The Washington Post and the Associated Press reported. The 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old girl are siblings.
NBC News’ Kristen Welker referred to the Post’s account in an interview on “Meet the Press” with Rubio April 27. The secretary of State pushed back, calling the headline “misleading.”
“Three U.S. citizens ages four, seven and two were not deported,” Rubio said. “Their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers.”
“If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if their father or someone here wants to assume them,” he added.
According to court documents, a lawyer for the father of the 2-year-old, a girl identified by the initials V.M.L., called immigration officials when the family was detained in Louisiana to inform them that the child is a citizen. The girl’s mother was apprehended as she attended a routine appointment at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New Orleans office, according to court filings.
The father, who lives in the United States, asked for V.M.L. to be placed with a custodian “ready and willing” to care for her in the country. He was told he would also be taken into custody if he were to try to pick up his daughter, according to the court filing.
V.M.L., her mother and sister, who is 11 and was born in Honduras, were deported early Friday morning. Lawyers representing their family had already filed a petition seeking the 2-year-old girl’s release.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty scheduled a hearing for May 19 “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen,” Doughty said.
Asked whether citizens and noncitizens alike are entitled to due process, Rubio on Sunday answered, “Yes, of course.”
“But let me tell you, in immigration standing the laws are very specific,” he continued, defending the removals. “If you’re in this country unlawfully, you have no right to be here and you must be removed. That’s what the law says. Somehow over the last 20 years we’ve completely lost this notion.”
Contributing: Sarah Wire, USA TODAY; Reuters