The Trump administration is making clear that it will not tolerate foreigners visiting the U.S. who support Hamas or other terrorist organizations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the U.S. has “zero tolerance” for terror supporters and will deport foreigners, including international students, who break the law in their support for terrorists.
“Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists. Violators of U.S. law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation, and deportation,” Rubio stated on X.
His comments echo a statement President Donald Trump made earlier this week promising to revoke federal funding for colleges and universities that allow illegal agitations on campus.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The State Department followed through on Trump’s words Wednesday, revoking a visa for a university student cited for criminal behavior in connection with pro-Hamas agitation, Fox News reported, citing a senior State Department official.
Rubio is set to deploy artificial intelligence to assist with the Trump administration’s effort to identify pro-Hamas foreign nationals and deport them, senior State Department officials told Axios. The AI will be used to review the social media accounts of tens of thousands of student visa holders. State Department officials also plan to examine internal databases to determine whether the Biden administration allowed student visa holders to stay in the country after being arrested.
On Day One, Trump signed an executive order meant to prevent the U.S. from admitting aliens who hold hostile attitudes toward the U.S. and support foreign terrorist organizations. Trump took further action in late January to combat antisemitic activities on college campuses and hold accountable the campus radicals engaging in such activities.
The U.S. experienced an outbreak of antisemitism following Hamas’s mass civilian and military slaughter on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent multifront war in the Middle East. College campuses were at the forefront of the antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, with tent encampments and protests breaking out nationwide last summer. The total number of antisemitic incidents on college campuses spiked 500 percent from October 7, 2023, to September 24, 2024, an even more pronounced increase than the 200 percent surge in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. as a whole, according to the left-wing Anti-Defamation League.
Columbia University’s anti-Israel tent encampment drew national attention and inspired many imitators nationwide as students demanded that the university end its financial relationship with companies doing business in Israel. The encampment was accompanied by pro-terrorist chanting and antisemitic activities in and around Columbia’s campus in New York City.
More recently, student activists and protesters at Barnard College, Columbia’s sister school, took over a library and refused to leave the premises, prompting the New York Police Department to come in and arrest nine demonstrators. The students occupied the library after seizing an academic building last week to protest the expulsion of three anti-Israel campus radicals at Barnard.
The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in January to halt the conflict in Gaza after almost 500 days of fighting. Hamas turned over 33 captive hostages, 25 living and eight deceased, to Israel in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners marking phase one of the cease-fire deal.
Trump met with a group of former hostages Wednesday and subsequently issued an ultimatum to Hamas to release the remaining hostages or face “HELL TO PAY” later on. Trump’s comments come as the U.S. held talks with Hamas directly about releasing the hostages with Israel’s consultation.