March 28 (UPI) — The State Department has revoked at least 300 visas, mostly over pro-Palestinian protests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as the United States cracks down on the activism of foreign-born residents.
“At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them,” he said Thursday during a press conference in Georgetown, Guyana. “But we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.”
He couldn’t give an exact number saying it could be more than 300 visas revoked. He said they are revoking visas “every day.”
“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” he said.
In remarks later to the press while en route to Miami, Fla., Rubio clarified that the visas revoked are mostly student visas though some were visitor visas, too.
“If they’re taking [part in] activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.”
Many of those affected appear to have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests that took over university campuses nationwide amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Most notably, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student married to an American citizen, whose detention by ICE earlier this month sparked protests where nearly 100 people were arrested.
Since returning to office Jan. 20, Trump has led a campaign attacking both illegal and legal immigration. The pro-Palestinian protests have also been a target for Republicans and conservatives, and Trump has used his executive powers to enforce changes at universities under the threat of severing federal funding.
Rubio made the remarks in response to questions concerning Rumeysa Ozturk, a at Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University who was detained by ICE earlier this week. Unverified video of her detention has been widely circulated on social media, showing her confronted by plainclothes officers while walking down the street and then handcuffed and put into a van.
Her detention came after her name was one of several attached to an editorial published in her school’s newspaper last year calling for her institute to divest from Israel of its war in Gaza.
Like that of Khalil, Ozturk’s has attracted condemnation from free speech and immigration advocates, who worry the arrests are an attempt to stifle dissent.
“We strongly condemn the Trump administration for turning U.S. immigration agents into thought police who are abducting students off of American city streets for the benefit of the Israeli government,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement following her arrest.
“The federal government is disappearing and then trying to deport students legally present here solely because of their peaceful political speech. This is un-American and unconstitutional.”
Rubio said that he thinks only a few of the visas that were revoked were not related to pro-Palestinian protests, such as those involving criminal charges or activity.
He explained he signs every one of the revocations and that if they had known the individuals’ stances beforehand, they wouldn’t have granted them the visa.
“My standard: If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in? And if the answer is no, then we revoke the visa.”