US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that more than 300 visas have been revoked as part of a crackdown on foreign nationals involved in pro-Palestine activism, describing those affected as 'lunatics'. The announcement came during a visit to Guyana, where Rubio stated that the process continues daily.
The visa revocation campaign has drawn criticism after Turkish doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar at Tufts University, was detained by masked immigration agents. Her visa was revoked following her co-authorship of an op-ed supporting Palestinians in Gaza. The Department of Homeland Security alleged she 'engaged in activities in support of Hamas', a claim denounced as an assault on academic freedom.
Rubio defended the action, stating: 'We revoked her visa ... once you’ve lost your visa, you’re no longer legally in the United States … if you come into the US as a visitor and create a ruckus for us, we don’t want it.' The State Department has also paused green card processing for certain refugees and asylum seekers and issued a directive to deny entry to transgender athletes.
The State Department told Fox News that it had revoked visas for 'more than 20 individuals', with hundreds more under review for 'national security concerns'. It did not specify whether the revoked visas were student, work, or other categories. The department did not respond to requests for further comment.
