‘No one is entitled…’: US secretary of state Marco Rubio doubles down on visa not a ‘privilege’ remark

US State Department has reiterated that visas are not a guaranteed right and can be taken away if foreign visitors act against America’s national interests, following remarks by secretary of state Marco Rubio during a visit to Hungary.In a video shared by the department, Rubio said he had made the point repeatedly and wanted to make it clear again. “I’ve said this repeatedly. I don’t know why it’s so hard for some to comprehend it,” he said. “No one is entitled to a visa,” he added. The top Trump aide was speaking in Budapest on Monday during a bilateral visit that included a joint press event with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Rubio explained that a visa is essentially permission to enter the United States. “A visa is a permission to enter our country as a visitor,” he said. He added that if someone enters as a visitor, whether as a student, tourist, journalist or in any other capacity, and then undertakes activities that go “against the national interest, the national security of the United States, we will take away your visa.” Rubio also said that if officials had known in advance about such activity, they probably would not have issued the visa in the first place.The State Department’s warning comes with a bigger push by the US government to treat visas as conditional and subject to revocation under existing law. The department has emphasised that consular officers around the world routinely deny visas for a range of reasons, including concerns over overstaying or criminal behaviour.Rubio has made similar points in the past, telling lawmakers that a visa is a privilege rather than a right and with a hardline ant-immigrant stance saying that there is no constitutional entitlement to one.