Rubio vows to deport students “celebrating” Charlie Kirk killing
“Visa revocations are under way. If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported. You are not welcome in this country,” said Rubio in a Fox News interview on September 15.
“If we invite someone to visit the United States of America – as a student, as a tourist, as whatever – then the standard they should be held to is very high.
“We should not be giving visas to people who are going to come to the US and do things like celebrate the murder, the assassination, the execution of a political figure. And, if they’re already here, we should be revoking their visas,” he said.
Since the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University (UVU) on September 10, the US has become engulfed in politically and emotionally charged debates about the First Amendment right of free speech.
Kirk, a close ally of President Trump, was a stalwart proponent of the First Amendment, though since his killing, the administration has vowed to crack down on some speech relating to his death.
Soon after Kirk’s death, deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, said on social media that he had directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” against those deemed to be “praising, rationalising, or making light of” Kirk’s death on social media.
It is unclear whether officials have identified individuals based on Landau’s directive or if any students have seen their visas revoked on such grounds.
The State Department declined to provide The PIE News with statistics on visa revocations or to comment on what constituted “celebrating” Kirk’s death.
“We revoke visas when we receive derogatory information that indicates someone’s potential visa ineligibility,” a spokesperson told The PIE, defering to Rubio’s September 15 interview.
When asked about the comments and if any visas had been revoked during a press briefing the next day, Rubio said: “We’ve revoked visas of people. I don’t know if we’ve revoked visas of people that are inside the country. We’ve most certainly been denying visas.”
If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported
Marco Rubio, US State Department
Pressed for clarification on whether individuals were being identified via their views expressed on social media, Rubio said: “We’ve got to go at process in all these… but I’m sure there’ll be some that are revoked.”
The comments come as international students are facing unprecedented hostility from the US government and are likely to cause alarm across campuses.
This spring, the Trump administration revoked thousands of student visas, some of which appeared to be in response to students participating in pro-Palestinian activism or expressing pro-Palestinian views.
Though the visas proceeded to be restored in a major government U-turn, among other policies, the move caused international student interest in the US to drop to its lowest level since the pandemic.
In June, visa appointments resumed after a near month-long suspension of new visa interviews, along with enhanced social media vetting of international students.
According to former State Department consular officer Düden Freeman: “The secretary, a consular officer or a delegated department official can revoke a nonimmigrant visa at any time, under their discretion.”
However, critics have said that revoking student visas based on statements about Kirk’s death would be unconstitutional and would set a dangerous precedent for what constitutes the basis for denials.
“It shouldn’t matter whether you agree with what they say or not, but the idea that they lose their visa over this is essentially violating the first premise of US Supreme Court First Amendment law,” former state department legal adviser Hongju Koh told CNN.
Freeman said visa officers are made aware of the potentially damaging impact of widespread or high profile revocations that are picked up by the media, and are warned in the Foreign Affairs Manual that visa decisions “can have immediate and long-term repercussions on our political relationship with foreign powers and on our public diplomacy goals.”
“When we restrict freedom of expression here at home, it makes it difficult for our diplomats to use soft power and public diplomacy to ‘démarche’ other countries” she told The PIE.
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