A heated exchange between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) exploded during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, as Rubio forcefully defended the Trump administration’s aggressive stance against transnational gangs and cartels, repeatedly clashing with Duckworth over national security, immigration enforcement, and the use of wartime authorities.
The confrontation centered on the administration’s view that violent narco-trafficking organizations operating throughout the Western Hemisphere constitute a direct threat to the United States. Rubio made clear he believes that threat is not abstract, but immediate.
“Anyone who believes that gangs that flood our country with fentanyl or cocaine are not threats to the United States is not living in reality and certainly does not reflect the opinion of most Americans,” Rubio said.
Duckworth pressed Rubio over President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law. She argued the administration had overreached and accused it of targeting individuals without criminal records.
“The Trump administration has acknowledged that the vast majority of the men it rounded up and deported under this law had no criminal records whatsoever,” Duckworth claimed.
Rubio sharply rejected the premise.
“We didn’t torture anybody,” he fired back after Duckworth alleged deportees were sent to be tortured. “Who did we torture? We haven’t tortured anybody. We’ve arrested people that are members of gangs, and we’ve deported them. We don’t want gang members in our country.”
WATCH:
🚨 HOLY SMOKES, MARCO RUBIO UNLEASHED. Dem Sen. Tammy Duckworth is stunned!
“ANYONE who believes that gangs that flood our country with fentanyl or cocaine are not threats to the United States is NOT LIVING IN REALITY and CERTAINLY does not reflect the opinion of most… pic.twitter.com/BxHASahA3v
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 28, 2026
The exchange intensified when Duckworth attempted to corner Rubio on whether the administration was effectively declaring a state of war.
“So you’re saying that we’re at war?” she asked. Rubio did not back down.
“When it comes to narco-trafficking groups and criminal gangs that are targeting the United States for criminal activity, we are absolutely,” he said. “There’s no doubt about the fact that we’re confronting them in a war-like setting because they’re waging war on us. They’re enemy combatants as a result of it.”
“These non-state actors, who possess state-like capabilities in terms of their weaponry, pose a grave danger to the United States,” Rubio continued. “I don’t think any American would dispute that we have cartels that pose a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C., on U.S. policy toward Venezuela, marking his first public appearance before Congress since the January 3 military operation that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Rubio defended the Trump administration’s actions as vital to national security, asserting that removing Maduro reduced threats in the Western Hemisphere and arguing that the mission did not constitute a war or occupation because no U.S. troops remain on the ground.
During the hearing, Rubio also addressed foreign policy issues — including NATO relations, Greenland, and tensions with Iran and China — and defended plans to allow Venezuela to sell oil under U.S.-controlled oversight to fund basic public services.
