Marco Rubio gets into heated debate with Democrat; Trump admin accused of turning US into 'system of global apartheid' | WATCH
Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, criticised Rubio on his handling of a range of issues, including the freezing of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, deportations to El Salvador, and revoking student visas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was caught in a heated argument with Senator Chris Van Hollen as he defended the Trump administration’s foreign policies in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday (May 20).
Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, criticised Rubio on his handling of a range of issues, including the freezing of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, deportations to El Salvador, and revoking student visas.
“You and I served together in Congress for 15 years,” Van Hollen said. “We didn’t always agree, but I believe we shared some common values — a belief in defending democracy and human rights abroad and honouring the Constitution at home. That’s why I voted to confirm you. I believed you would stand up for those principles. You haven’t. You've done the opposite.”
The senator added, “You used to speak with conviction about the importance of foreign aid as a tool to advance American values and interests. Then you stood by while Elon Musk took a chainsaw to USAID and other assistance programs.”
Van Hollen added that people have died following the gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Earlier this year, Rubio said that 83 per cent of programs funded by the US were being cancelled after the agency became a target for the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Van Hollen accused Rubio of making a mockery of the refugee process of the country and “turning it into a system of global apartheid where political ideology and race more than truth or need matter.”
The Trump administration granted refugee status to White South Africans as they allegedly faced discrimination by the post-apartheid government.
“I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you as secretary of state,” he said.
Rubio said Van Hollen’s regret confirms he’s “doing a good job.”
Van Hollen brought up the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia by the Trump administration.
“The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision, instructed you to facilitate the return to the United States of Abrego Garcia, who the administration admitted was wrongfully deported to El Salvador,” he said. “Your response, you have openly flouted judicial orders. When asked whether you had been in touch with El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia, you boasted, ‘I would never tell you that, and you know who else I would never tell, a judge.’”
“No judge in the judicial branch can tell me or the president how to conduct foreign policy,” Rubio hit back at the senator and ridiculed his trip to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia.
“In the case of El Salvador, absolutely, absolutely, we deported gang members — gang members including the one you had a margarita with,” the secretary of state told Van Hollen. “And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gangbanger, and the evidence is going to be clear in the days to come.”
“Mr Chairman, he can’t make unsubstantiated claims like that!” Van Hollen retorted. “Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to the federal court of the United States because he hasn’t done it under oath.”