Marco Rubio read 1984 and thought “Hold my banana daiquiri”

One of its less charming features is that Trumpism is becoming increasingly impossible to satirize:

The Trump administration has just claimed an astounding new power: the ability to deport lawful permanent residents based on their “expected beliefs” (including perfectly “lawful” expected beliefs). This isn’t speculation or hyperbole — it’s the explicit thought-police justification Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave in immigration court documents for trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and green card holder. . .

As a reminder, Khalil is a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) in the US and a student at Columbia University in New York. While he was involved in some pro-Palestinian demonstrations, MAGA world has falsely labeled him a “Hamas supporter.” I’ve yet to see any evidence that actually supports that claim, but MAGA isn’t exactly known for accuracy in their accusations.

An immigration judge asked the administration to produce, to use an increasingly old-fashioned term, evidence that Khalil’s mere presence in the United States poses potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences (reminder: this is a graduate student), and they came up with this:

Under INA section 237(a) (4) (C)(i), an alien is deportable from the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. Under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(ii), for cases in which the basis for this determination is the alien’s past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful, the Secretary of State must personally determine that the alien’s presence or activities would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.

That’s right: according to lil’ Marco, your LAWFUL EXPECTED BELIEFS (this apparently means beliefs you don’t actually have yet, but may acquire at some point; I think there was a Tom Cruise movie about this though I didn’t see it, or maybe that’s just Scientology) can provide a sufficient basis for expelling you from the country of which you are a lawful permanent resident, who also happens to be married to a U.S. citizen.

Soon enough this principle will be extended to U.S. citizens themselves, or at least those who acquired their citizenship via dubious means, such as not being white, or being born into a progressive household.

I wonder how many people still think it’s just sparkling authoritarianism?