The State Department is pursuing American immigration recipients who appear to have pity for Hamas and other criminal organizations using artificial intelligence.
The Trump administration is checking social media posts to identify non-U.S. citizens in accordance with a” catch and rescind” system that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has launched but hasn’t yet announced. Forbes claims that there are U.S. individuals who reside there and who allegedly support Hamas. The State Department did not discuss the use of AI or the plan.
The deployment comes as the Trump presidency moves to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a new graduate of Columbia University and a green card holder who helped organize protests against Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
Free talk and Muslim National organizations see the emphasis on Gaza as a slippery slope that was combine pro-Palestinian attitude with support for Hamas itself, as the AI program has raised First Amendment concerns. The State Department contends that if certain activists ‘ opinions had been known, the United States would never have granted the permits in the first place.
” You are below as a customer when you come to the United States as a customer, which is what a card is. We may refuse to grant you that visa, Rubio said on Wednesday during a press conference.
If you tell us when you apply for a card,” And by the way, I intend to come to your state as a scholar and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, racist activities,” I’ll shut down your institutions. We may reject your card if you told us all of these details when you applied for one. Rubio continued,” I hope we do.”
. @SecRubio on pro-Hamas activists who have student visa: We can’t refuse you a card, and if you do, we’ll kick you out if you get a green cards while you’re here. photograph. twitter.com/Yh6SlrKhq7— Rapid Response 47 ( @Rapid Response47 ) March 12, 2025
The phrase” catch and rescind” is similar to the Republican name” catch and release,” which refers to the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants into the United States.
State examines social media posts
Applications for visas are reviewed by the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to make sure they don’t pose a threat to the nation and meet legal requirements.
The State Department stated to the Washington Examiner that its new resolute actions go against what they are supposed to do to safeguard both the country and its citizens.
” Those who support foreign terrorist organizations pose a threat to our country’s security. A State Department spokesman wrote in an email that the United States has zero tolerance for foreigners who support terrorism. ” Violators of U.S. law, including international students, may face visa revocation or denial.”
In connection with the program, State Department employees are using AI to look for social media posts that show how sympathic those who have received visas react to the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023, which resulted in the hostage taking of some 250 people.
A bloody conflict in Gaza erupted last year as a result of Israeli military action that claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Axios reported that officials had examined 100 000 student visas issued through the Student Exchange Visitor System since October 2023 but that no student visas had been revoked since the Hamas attack.
Given the extensive pro-Palestinian protests, the State Department is now looking at internal databases to see if any visa recipients were detained but not taken out of the country.
If a student is suspended or expelled from a college or university while studying in the United States, their student visa will be automatically removed from the student visa.
Free speech debate is sparked by AI program
The Trump administration’s decision to use AI for visa applications for the first time has caused a conflict over the First Amendment.
Another reminder that Palestine is the canary in the coal mine of authoritarianism and repression, wrote Yousef Munayyer, a Middle East analyst who leads the Arab Center’s Palestine/Israel program in Washington, in a post to X. The bombs dropped in Palestine won’t stay there, they said. The laws that affect Palestine won’t stop there. They won’t only be able to use those technology tools there.
Abed Ayoub, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s national executive director, said using AI in this manner was” concerning.”
” The use of AI is much more troubling. This violates 1A rights. Nothing is altered by wrapping this up as national security. They will use almost anything to support a visa revocation, according to Ayoub, because the language is so broad. Are Americans willing to renounce their First Amendment protections just to protest criticism of other countries?
Rubio addressed the issue of free speech in his press briefing on Wednesday, telling reporters that the State Department has a wide discretion over revoke visas.
This is not about free speech, they say. This is about people who don’t have a right to be in the United States at first, Rubio said. No one has a right to a student visa. By the way, no one has a right to a green card. We have a right to reject you for almost any reason when you apply for a student visa or any other visa to enter the United States.
First visa suspension
Khalil’s visa was revoked by the State Department over the weekend, and he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Khalil, a citizen of the United States who is legally permanent, is contesting in court to move his detention from Louisiana to New York, where he was first taken into custody.
The Department of Homeland Security cited” President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and argued that Khalil’s “activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
President Donald Trump issued a warning on January 20 that” all the resident aliens who participated in the pro-jihadist demonstrations” were “put on notice.”
According to a White House fact sheet, Trump said,” Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.” ” I will also immediately cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have experienced unprecedented radicalism.”
A legal battle has erupted following the arrest. Khalil and seven other students requested on Thursday that Columbia University refrain from releasing student discipline records to a House committee that requested them in February.
In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, Rubio has the authority to revoke visas for noncitizens who he believes pose a threat to American interests, a position he reiterated in a Fox News interview days after the attack on October 7.
Since TRUMP TOOK OFFICE, ICE ARRESTS TOP 32, 000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
The government’s responses to Khalil’s allegations are insufficient, according to The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a Philadelphia-based advocate for fundamental rights on college campuses.
According to a statement from FIRE,” the federal government must not use immigration enforcement to punish and filter out ideas the administration favors.” To prevent chilling protected speech, it must also guarantee that anyone facing arrest and detention has access to fair process and be clear and honest about the justification for its actions.
