Rubio Bill Sparks Fears of Passport Revocations over Speech

By Staff, Agencies

Free speech advocates are warning that a new bill in the US House of Representatives could give Secretary of State Marco Rubio sweeping authority to revoke passports based solely on political expression.

The measure, introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), is scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday.

According to The Intercept, one section allows the secretary of state to “revoke or refuse to issue passports” to people convicted, or even just charged, with providing material support for terrorism.

Another provision bypasses the courts entirely, giving the secretary power to deny passports to anyone they decide “has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.”

Rubio has previously boasted of canceling visas and green cards for immigrants over their peaceful pro-Palestinian speech, calling them “Hamas supporters.”

Those actions included Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Rubio voided his green card, and Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, whose visa Rubio revoked after she co-wrote an op-ed urging divestment from "Israel".

Mast,  a former soldier for the Israeli occupation forces who once said babies were “not innocent Palestinian civilians,” has also urged “kicking terrorist sympathizers out of our country,” referring to Trump-era attempts to deport Khalil, who was never charged or convicted of aiding "a terrorist group".