Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced his former Senate colleagues Tuesday, with bitter words exchanged as Senate Democrats accused him of abandoning his principles.
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who served with Rubio in the Senate for 15 years and voted to confirm him as secretary of state, didn’t mince words: “We didn’t always agree, but I believe we shared some common values: a belief in defending democracy and human rights abroad and honoring the Constitution at home. That’s why I voted to confirm you. I believed you would stand up for those principles. You haven’t. You’ve done the opposite.”
Venezuelans in Miami can certainly say the same.
Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban exiles, had for many years been perhaps the strongest consistent voice in the U.S. government lobbying for toughness against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and for Venezuelans to be granted Temporary Protected Status.
Rubio’s past support for strong geopolitical alliances on the world stage, human rights and humanitarian aid helped him get a unanimous, bipartisan Senate confirmation. He stood vehemently opposed to authoritarian regimes in places like Cuba and Venezuela. He backed the cause of Ukraine against Russia. He suggested in 2013 a pathway to citizenship — a long one — for those who are in the U.S. illegally. He was a champion for the cause of immigrants.
Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, now supports President Donald Trump’s decision to end TPS deportation protections. And he must own up to his contribution to the imminent deportation of some 350,000 Venezuelans who, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday, will lose their TPS status while a legal case is ongoing.
What a change. What a betrayal.
Only Rubio can reverse course by using his elevated position within the Trump administration to help Venezuelans. He may have backing from within his own party.
Miami’s Cuban American Republican House members said in a joint statement on Wednesday they have asked for a meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to explain their concerns about the revocation of TPS. “We believe that a case-by-case review is warranted for individuals with legitimate claims of persecution,” they wrote.
As a member of Trump’s Cabinet, Rubio has much easier access to Noem and to Trump to advocate, at the very least, for giving at least some Venezuelan cases a second look.
Rubio, human rights defender
This is the Rubio we used to know: In 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, Rubio urged then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to expand Temporary Protected Status so Venezuelans would qualify.
Again, in 2019, Rubio stood up for Venezuelans. He was the only Republican co-sponsor for the Venezuela TPS Act to grant the federal protection for Venezuelans. And when President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021 first designated Venezuela for TPS, citing the ongoing humanitarian, political, and economic crises in the country, Rubio publicly welcomed it.
In 2022, Rubio requested that the Biden administration expand TPS for Venezuelans. At this point he says, in a letter with then-Senator Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, to the Department of Homeland Security, that returning Venezuelans to their home country could amount to “a very real death sentence.”
What happened?
The poor humanitarian conditions in Venezuela remain the same. Rubio has changed.
In January, court documents show, he endorsed the decision to end TPS, the Herald reported. Rubio wrote in a letter to Noem: “Designating Venezuela under TPS does not champion core American interests or put America and American citizens first. Therefore, it is contrary to the foreign policy and the national interest of the United States.”
Rubio also wrote that TPS “facilitates and encourages mass migration.”
We understand the concern that TPS may encourage “mass migration,” though most of its recipients are also contributing to South Florida and its economy. But where was this concern when Rubio repeatedly encouraged the U.S. to grant TPS to Venezuelans over the years?
Did Rubio, as Democratic senators accuse him, abandon his principles and Miami’s Venezuelan exile community to curry favor with Trump and his allies?
Van Hollen and other Democrats were bitter during the hearing on Tuesday. But if there’s anyone who has more reason to feel that way, it’s Venezuelans on TPS.
By the Miami Herald Editorial Board
