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# "Otherwise Lawful"
- URL: https://unprecedented.ghost.io/archive/otherwise-lawful/
- Published: 2025-04-10T20:36:32.000Z
- Updated: 2025-04-10T20:36:32.000Z
- Description: Rubio's God encourages you to be brave and speak freely. The administration Rubio now serves wants to scare you into silence—and live in fear of being disappeared.
- Author: Richard Hine
- Tags: marco rubio, Mahmoud Khalil, otherwise lawful

“Christianity is not a political party,” said the very pious and very Christian U.S. Senator [Marco Rubio](https://www.liberty.edu/news/2023/10/11/u-s-sen-marco-rubio-challenges-liberty-students-to-stand-on-faith-and-truth-in-a-world-of-hate/?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) in 2023\. "What I mean by that is that it must transcend our politics. It can influence it, but it must transcend it."

In 2016, in a GOP primary debate, [Senator Rubio](https://time.com/4199328/republican-debate-marco-rubio-faith/?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) spoke about the need for America to have a President who "is influenced by their faith," because, he said, "The Bible commands us to let our light shine on the world." 

> You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt— Leviticus 19:33-34

Today, Marco Rubio serves as Secretary of State for Donald Trump, a serial adulterer and convicted felon whom Rubio is willing to serve despite Trump's steadfast refusal to be influenced by "the Judeo-Christian values" Rubio claims are essential for any President—values "that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor."

While working for the devoutly [anti-Christian](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-dei-christians-georgetown-grace-rcna196345?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) Trump would seem like a stretch for someone as godly as Rubio, it's worth remembering that Rubio's own "faith" is [as malleable](https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/five-faith-facts-about-marco-rubio-once-catholic-always-catholic?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) as clay. Born a Catholic, he became a Mormon, then renounced Mormonism to rediscover Catholicism while choosing to worship at a [Southern Baptist](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/12/southern-baptist-church-sexual-abuse-scandal?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) megachurch on the side.

Marco Rubio is [Christian in his tweets](https://floridapolitics.com/archives/374755-rubio-bible-tweet/?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io), but now that he's working for Trump, he's getting very [Satanic in the streets.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pressed-for-evidence-against-mahmoud-khalil-rubio-argues-his-presence-undermines-u-s-foreign-policy?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io)

### Rubio wants to deport legal U.S. resident for their beliefs

Consider the case of [Mahmoud Khalil](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pressed-for-evidence-against-mahmoud-khalil-rubio-argues-his-presence-undermines-u-s-foreign-policy?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io): 

> Khalil, a 30-year-old Palestinian by ethnicity who was born in Syria, was arrested March 8 in New York and taken to a detention center in Louisiana. He recently finished his coursework for a master’s degree at Columbia’s school of international affairs. His wife, an American citizen, is due to give birth this month.

Rubio just signed a two-page memo claiming that Khalil should be expelled from the U.S. even as he acknowledges there's no evidence Khalil did anything other than speak his mind and that all of Khalil's "past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations... are otherwise lawful."

> The memo also calls for the deportation of a second lawful permanent resident, whose name is redacted in the filing.

Khalil's attorneys Marc Van Der Hout and Johnny Sinodis said in a joint statement:

> "After a month of hiding the ball since Mahmoud’s late-night unjust arrest in New York and taking him away to a remote detention center in Louisiana, immigration authorities have finally admitted that they have no case whatsoever against him."

Rubio has also been [revoking the visas](https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-revoke-international-student-visas-colleges-rubio-rcna200632?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io) of international students who criticized Israel or accused it of mistreating Palestinians, while calling those students "lunatics."

> And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent—Acts 18:9-10

At the time of his arrest, Khalil was accused of being "aligned with Hamas." Today, the AP reports:

> The government has not produced any evidence linking Khalil to Hamas, and made no reference to the group in their most recent filing.

In the Holy Bible that Rubio so often references, God frequently encourages us to "[keep on speaking](https://millyjonesblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/365-do-not-be-afraid-verses/?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io)" and not to live in fear. 

But the administration Rubio now serves wants to scare you into silence—and live in fear of [being disappeared](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/supreme-court-analysis-trump-black-sites.html?ref=unprecedented.ghost.io).

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