Posted on 03/29/25
| News Source: i24
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials have revoked at least 300 foreign students' visas as part of President Donald Trump's effort to crack down on antisemitic pro-Palestinian protesters on university campuses.
"Maybe more than 300 at this point," he said in response to a reporter's question. "We do it every day, every time I find one of these lunatics."
"At some point I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of them," the top American diplomat said.
Since his return to the White House on January 20, Trump has moved energetically against pro-Hamas, antisemitic student activists, academics and administrators over the disruptive protests that swept colleges campuses after the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war.
Rubio further said that visas were a "gift" at the discretion of the State Department and not subject to any judicial review.
It was "crazy," he went on, to allow in the U.S. students who were "supportive of a group that just slaughtered babies," a reference to the Hamas massacres of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, the deadliest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.
Asked if the Trump administration would go after anyone who presents dissenting views, the top diplomat said, "If you're complaining about paper straws, then we're obviously not going to yank a visa over that."