GEORGETOWN: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned Thursday he has canceled the visas of greater than 300 “lunatics” in a rising crackdown towards anti-Israel activism on American college campuses.
Requested to verify studies of 300 visas stripped, Rubio mentioned: “Possibly greater than 300 at this level. We do it on daily basis.”
“Each time I discover one among these lunatics, I take away their visas,” he informed reporters on a go to to Guyana.
“Sooner or later I hope we run out as a result of we have gotten rid of them,” Rubio mentioned.
Since President Donald Trump returned to workplace on January 20, Rubio has moved aggressively towards college students on the forefront of on-campus anti-Israel protests in response to the Gaza struggle.
Essentially the most high-profile case is Mahmoud Khalil, who led protests at Columbia College in New York. He was arrested this month and brought to Louisiana forward of deportation proceedings, regardless of being a US everlasting resident.
Rubio was requested a few new case at Tufts College in Massachusetts the place immigration brokers arrested a Turkish doctoral pupil, Rumeysa Ozturk, who had written an opinion piece in a campus newspaper demanding that the college acknowledge a “genocide” towards the Palestinians.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, accused the Trump administration of shifting to “abduct college students with authorized standing.”
“This can be a horrifying violation of Rumeysa’s constitutional rights to due course of and free speech. She should be instantly launched,” Pressley mentioned in an announcement.
The Trump administration has responded that the US constitutional safety of free speech doesn’t apply to non-US residents and has accused activist college students of making a harmful ambiance for Jewish college students.
With out commenting straight on the Tufts case, Rubio mentioned: “In the event you inform us that the explanation why you are coming to america isn’t just since you need to write op-eds, however since you need to take part in actions which are concerned in doing issues like vandalizing universities, harassing college students, taking up buildings, making a ruckus, we’re not going to provide you a visa.”
“In the event you misinform us and get a visa after which enter america, and with that visa, take part in that kind of exercise, we’ll take away your visa,” he mentioned.
