U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasts of revoking the visas of foreign students for engaging in protests and voicing their opinions. It's easy to sympathize with his sentiments about the often hateful and pro-terrorist beliefs of some of these students. But offending government officials—even when it involves saying awful things—is a time-honored practice in the United States, and the government is forbidden to punish anybody for speech alone. As a result, the Trump administration is rightfully being sued for violating the First Amendment rights of foreign students in the U.S.
Detained for an Op-Ed
In March, asked by a Reuters reporter about the arrest of "a Turkish student in Boston" who "wrote an opinion piece about the Gaza war," Rubio replied, "We revoked her visa…. If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we're not going to give you a visa."
