Rubio’s top deputy calls on social media to rat out ‘foreigners who glorify violence’ after Charlie Kirk killing

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailA top State Department official on Thursday gave a hint as to how Charlie Kirk’s killing could energize the Trump administration’s efforts to target foreigners living legally in the United States for expulsion.Chris Landau, the top official serving under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, tweeted that his MAGA followers on X should report to the State Department if they believe a foreign-born person living in the United States is “glorifying violence” in their speech or actions.“In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau wrote.“Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the @StateDept can protect the American people,” Landau continued.The statement is a sign of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to restrict the First Amendment rights of foreigners living in the United States, which some of the president’s MAGA allies deny extends to anyone not born in America. The Supreme Court ruled to the contrary in Bridges vs Wixon in 1945.Marco Rubio has led the State Department as it implements Trump’s efforts to suppress the speech and expression rights of noncitizens (AP)The White House and State Department under Donald Trump have pushed those boundaries and sought to revoke visas for foreign-born students who supported protests on college campuses against the Israeli siege of Gaza.Landau’s statement also serves to fuel a perception that conservatives have pushed in the wake of Kirk’s shooting death at Utah Valley University on Wednesday: that political violence is solely a problem on the left. In a draft letter to colleagues on Thursday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna made that argument explicitly: “one side finds it acceptable to stoke fear and violence to silence civil dissent.”Rubio, once a figure known for pursuing bipartisanship during his time in the Senate, has seemingly embraced Trump’s efforts to roll back the the First Amendment for noncitizens. In January, he vowed that he would revoke visas for every foreign-born student he found to be supportive of campus protests. Some, like Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, have even been imprisoned.Under Trump’s second term, the federal government has sought to broadly redefine the limits of speech and free expression in America, both for citizens and noncitizens.The president took his latest step to do so last month, when he directed the Justice Department to resume efforts to prosecute demonstrators who burn the American flag under charges of inciting violence. That debate was previously settled at the Supreme Court years ago in a decision that tossed out flag-burning bans in 48 states.Numerous legal experts have pointed out how the Trump administration’s campaign could curtail rights for all Americans with its assault on student visas and foreign-born residents.“The Trump administration is revoking green cards and visas solely based on speech. Individuals are explicitly being targeted based on ‘beliefs, statements, or associations’ that are ‘lawful within the United States but which Secretary of State Marco Rubio has deemed ‘adverse to the foreign policy of the United States,’” the Cato Institute’s David J. Bier wrote in April, adding: “The administration’s assault on noncitizen speech reveals a much deeper problem. A significant portion of the American public has simply forgotten the value of free speech entirely, and that’s the biggest threat to free speech of all.”The killing of Kirk on Wednesday sent shockwaves around Washington, with Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives devolving into a shouting match on the chamber floor and angry GOP representatives attempting to blame reporters for the murder.In June, a 57-year-old man was arrested after police say he assassinated a Democratic state lawmaker and wounded one other, with police finding a hit list that included abortion providers and pro-choice groups inside the suspect’s vehicle. Other acts of violence have been carried out againt members of both parties in recent years, a disturbing trend of political violence that is creeping into all sides of American culture.After former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was grievously wounded by an intruder seeking to harm his wife in 2022, Republicans including the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., mocked the victim.



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