The Columbia University grad student's attorneys released a video of his arrest one week ago.
"He does not have any affiliation, does not support Hamas," said Khalil's attorney, Brad Parker.
Parker says the only basis for the removal action is a determination solely by the Secretary of State -- that Khalil's presence and activities could pose a threat to the United States.
"That's it, there's no criminal charges, no unlawful activity that's even alleged by the government at this point," Parker added.
Rubio defended that determination.
"If you tell us when you apply for a visa, I'm coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events, that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States of America. It's that simple. So, you lied. You came - if you had told us that you were going to do that, we never would have given you the visa. Now you're here. Now you do it. You lied to us. You're out."
More protests this weekend denounced Khalil's detention. Since Khalil was taken into custody, two more students have been impacted.
A doctoral student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan self-deported on Tuesday after her visa was revoked. DHS claims she supported Hamas. And a second Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank was arrested Friday in Newark for her part in the Hamilton Hall takeover last April at Columbia.
On Friday, some students participated in a walkout and protest. The university president's office was vandalized with graffiti saying, 'Free them all.'
The secretary says that's not likely, pointing to Khalil's student negotiator role in the protest encampments last spring.
"Negotiating on behalf of people that took over a campus? That vandalized buildings? Negotiating over what? That's a crime in and of itself, that they're involved in the being the negotiator, the spokesperson, this that the other. We don't want- we don't need these people in our country that we never should have allowed them in in the first place," said Rubio,
Khalil's attorneys say they are challenging the basis for his detention, insisting, again, that he does not support Hamas, and working to get him released from a facility in Louisiana so he can be home in Morningside Heights with his wife, who is eight months pregnant.
However, they say his immigration proceedings don't actually start until the end of this month.
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