In a growing assault against anti-Israel activism on British university campuses, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that he had canceled the visa of more than 300 “lunatics.”
Rubio responded,” Maybe more than 300 at this point,” confirming information of 300 visa being removed. We carry it out daily.
He said to writers while he was in Guyana,” Every day I find one of these loons, I take away their visas.”
Rubio said,” At some point, I hope we run away because we’ve gotten free of them.”
Since President Donald Trump’s resignation on January 20th, Rubio has violently retaliated against individuals who have been organizing anti-Israel demonstrations on-campus since then.
Mahmoud Khalil, who organized protests at Columbia University in New York, is the most well-known event. Despite being a permanent citizen of the US, he was detained this quarter and taken to Louisiana before the deportation process began.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Greek doctoral student, was detained after being asked about a recent event at Tufts University in Massachusetts in which she had written an view piece in a college paper repressurizing the university’s decision to identify a “genocide” against the Palestinians.
Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, claimed the Trump administration would “abduct individuals with constitutional position.”
This is a horrible violation of Rumeysa’s democratic right to free speech and due process. She needs to be free right away, Pressley said in a speech.
The Trump administration has responded by saying that activist individuals have caused a hazardous environment for Jewish kids by not allowing non-US residents to speak freely in the US.
Rubio said,” We won’t give you a visa if you tell us that the reason you’re coming to the United States is not just because you want to create op-eds, but because you want to take over houses, creating a ruckus, and not just because you want to create op-eds,” without explicitly commenting on the Tufts situation.
We’re going to remove your card if you lie to us, obtain a card, and next enter the United States, and with that immigration, engage in that kind of activity,” he said.
