from the fascist-family-values dept
“It’s no longer about you,” Marco Rubio declared in 2023, describing the transformative moment of becoming a father. “It’s the first time in my life that I have been responsible, entirely at that stage, for the life of another human being.” The Senator has repeatedly stressed the critical importance of fathers being present, going so far as to blame “fatherlessness” as the cause of “every major social problem.”
This week, those words ring particularly hollow. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States currently detained due to Rubio’s unprecedented campaign against student “thoughtcrime,” was denied the chance to witness the birth of his first child. While the formal denial came from ICE officials in the Department of Homeland Security, make no mistake — Khalil would never have been in this position if not for Rubio’s crusade.
After being shuttled between detention facilities in what was clearly a deliberate attempt to obstruct legal challenges, Khalil made a simple, human request: to be present for the birth of his first child. His lawyers proposed multiple security measures to accommodate the government’s concerns, including ankle monitoring and scheduled check-ins during a brief furlough.
Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia University campus, has been detained in Louisiana for more than a month. On Sunday morning, shortly after Dr. Abdalla went into labor, Mr. Khalil’s lawyers requested a two-week furlough so that he could attend the birth.
The lawyers proposed several ways for Mr. Khalil, 30, to be monitored. They said he could wear an ankle monitor and make scheduled check-ins.
“A two week furlough in this civil detention matter would be both reasonable and humane so that both parents can be present for the birth of their first child,” the lawyers wrote.
Less than an hour after they made their request, Melissa Harper, the director of the New Orleans field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied it. She wrote that the decision had been made “after consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case.”
While ICE officials formally denied the request, the responsibility lies squarely with Rubio. His assertion of unilateral authority to determine who belongs in America based on their “expected beliefs” created this Kafkaesque scenario. A legal permanent resident, married to a US citizen, was effectively kidnapped by the state – not for any crime, not even for anything he said, but for thoughts Rubio claims he might have.
This isn’t a hardened criminal. This is not a criminal at all. This is someone who is merely a political prisoner, locked up for his potential speech. A victim of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio’s new “thoughtcrime” regime.
Again, there’s no reason for Khalil to be locked up at all. Even if you agree with Rubio’s nonsensical assertion that Khalil is “a lunatic” who supports “terrorists,” he could have been notified of the process by which his green card was stripped and given a chance to fight it in court. Instead, he was grabbed by ICE officials and renditioned to Louisiana.
Just two years ago, Rubio appeared on a podcast all about fatherhood, where he talked about how precious fatherhood was and what an impact it made on him when he became a father for the first time (he now has four kids).
Well, I was 29 and it was in 2000 when my daughter was born in April, and you know it changes your life in a fundamental way. And that is it’s no longer about you.
I think it arises different feelings in in men and women and fathers and and mothers, but for me it was sort of like this sense of I now have… it’s the first time in my life that I have been responsible, entirely at that stage, for the life of another human being, for everything. From whether they’re going to have enough to eat, to whether they’re going to be able to make sure they get medical attention if they get sick. And that’s just the beginning, you know, from there.
And obviously with your first child, you know, I mean, I think back at that time, I mean, my daughter was two weeks old and I was in the state legislature and we just threw her in a car seat and drove up to Tallahassee, you know. And obviously the old, Cuban grandmother and Colombian grandmother were like, screaming at us, you can’t take a baby out of the house after the first two weeks, they can get infections, but we just sort of roll with it. And so, you know, it was a very special time in our life.
Later on in the podcast, he talks about his regrets being about how sometimes his job has meant he wasn’t able to be present for his children:
And I would say the biggest struggle has been this challenge between the guilt or in some cases the necessity of dedicating time to what it takes to raise a family and being not just around but present and the demands of a career and a job. And I I really wrestled with that for a very long time and kind of the balance I found is the following. Number one is it’s good for kids to see that dad has a job and that dad is working. It’s a good thing for kids to see that dad is busy, that dad has things to do.
But, even more importantly, he talks about how important it is for fathers “not to miss things that are never going to happen again.”
I would say this, there are things I’ve missed because of family, I’ve missed stuff at work if I can’t… If it’s something that’s never going to happen again, I don’t miss it. Unless it’s like the urgent end of the world thing, I try not to miss things that are never going to happen again. You know, you’re never going to play your last high school football game, you’re never going to you know, graduate. There are things you’re never going to get to do again. I don’t miss things that are never going to happen again.
Yeah, well, Mahmoud Khalil just missed the birth of his child entirely because Marco Rubio said he doesn’t like what Marco Rubio thinks Khalil might believe. If Marco Rubio actually believed in fatherhood and being there, he wouldn’t have wiped that experience away from Khalil.
Incredibly, in that same podcast, he and the host bemoan “absentee” fathers. How about the fathers that Marco Rubio made disappear? The party of “family values?” No, Marco Rubio is breaking apart families for no damn reason at all. Marco Rubio has created an unwilling absentee father here.
What little was left of Rubio’s reputation as a “more reasonable” Republican should now be gone. The government could have easily and rightfully allowed Khalil to be with his wife during the birth of their child. This needlessly cruel denial of a basic human moment — one that Rubio himself describes as transformative — reveals the truth about both Rubio and the Trump administration’s broader campaign to terrorize anyone who dares criticize their policies. It’s not about security. It’s not about law. It’s about raw power and punishment.
Filed Under: cruel and unusual, expected beliefs, family values, fatherhood, mahmoud khalil, marco rubio
