Warren, Markey, Van Hollen, Pressley, Lawmakers Question Rubio on Abuse of Power to Deport Students, Academics; Violation of First Amendment Rights

Warren, Markey, Van Hollen, Pressley, Lawmakers Question Rubio on Abuse of Power to Deport Students, Academics; Violation of First Amendment Rights

"This abuse of your authority risks normalizing a future where Secretaries of State may summarily revoke visas based on speech, depriving individuals of their rights and whittling down the guarantees of the First Amendment"

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), led 12 lawmakers in pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his abuse of power and possible First Amendment violations. Recent reports revealed that under Secretary Rubio, the State Department reportedly targeted students and academics for detention and deportation based on constitutionally protected speech.

"This abuse of your authority risks normalizing a future where Secretaries of State may summarily revoke visas based on speech, depriving individuals of their rights and whittling down the guarantees of the First Amendment," wrote the lawmakers.

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Representatives Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (D-Ill.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), joined in signing the letter.

Recently unsealed court records confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security identified students for deportation based on the students' articles, participation in protests, and social media posts, and shared that information with the State Department. Many of the students were detained for months, despite the fact that none of them were accused of a crime at the time - or have been to date.

Among those detained was Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, a Massachusetts resident who was arrested and had her visa revoked in March 2025, reportedly because of an op-ed she wrote related to the war in Gaza. The State Department has admitted that it does not have any evidence Ozturk engaged in anti-Semitic activity.

Columbia University students, as well as a Georgetown University post-doc student, were arrested and detained on similar grounds. The unsealed documents reveal that the State Department determined it did not have evidence to justify deporting these students on the basis of allegedly supporting terrorists. At the same time, the administration has said that some students displayed "support for a terrorist organization" on social media.

"[These memos] raise substantial questions about the process the State Department follows, if any, in independently verifying the evidence presented by DHS in whether to pursue deportations," wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers expressed particular concern over Secretary Rubio's use of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which gives the Secretary of State the power to deport noncitizens the Secretary believes "would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Rubio was reportedly advised to personally determine whether this provision justified many of the deportations, a power that had never previously been exercised.

The lawmakers asked the Secretary to provide detailed explanations regarding the unprecedented invocation of this personal authority and all of the cases in which he has determined that a noncitizen be deported, as well as the agency's reliance on information provided by political organizations to inform its determinations.

This letter is endorsed by The National Immigration Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

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