One week ago, the world watched in horror as Hamas, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, swept into southern Israel, slaughtering, raping, mutilating, and kidnapping innocent Israeli civilians—along with hundreds of Americans.
Protests in support of Hamas erupted across America in the days that followed. Many of the protests took place on college campuses, when officials astonishingly refused to condemn Hamas’s atrocities and enabled pro-terrorist activities to continue.
Some of individuals responsible for planning and participating in pro-Hamas demonstrations—demonstrations in support of a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) that recently carried out the bloodiest attack on Jews since the Holocaust—are in the country on visas.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has encouraged the Biden Administration to cancel and revoke visas for foreign nationals who support or defend terrorist conduct, particularly those who defend or assist Hamas by advocating for an intifada, jihad, or other comparable actions to destroy the Jewish state of Israel.
“America is the most generous country on the planet, but we cannot allow foreign nationals who support terrorist organizations like Hamas and march in our streets calling for a ‘intifada’ to enter or remain in our country.”
“Under existing law, the Biden Administration has the authority and obligation to immediately identify, cancel the visas of, and remove foreign nationals who have demonstrated support for terrorist groups and, in many cases, even celebrated the slaughter of Israeli babies and the rape of Jewish girls.”
“In addition to demanding the Biden Administration apply our existing laws, I will introduce legislation to force them to act.” Senator Marco Rubio
The United States Code, 8 USC1182, defines numerous kinds of “aliens ineligible for visas or admission.” Anyone who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization,” such as pro-Hamas demonstrations, is outlawed.
Others that are forbidden are “alien[s] whose entry or proposed activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
A look back… Rubio rejected plans to allow Gaza refugees into the United States, telling the New York Post, “[w]e are in no position to accept additional refugees, especially from a region with as high a risk of terrorism, given our nation’s inability to secure our own border or vet those who are already here.”
Looking ahead… Rubio will present legislation forcing the Biden Administration to revoke visas and deport foreign people who actively support Hamas, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization.
He will also work to remove federal funding from colleges and universities that allow protests, demonstrations, or other activity that can be reasonably construed to “endorse or espouse terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization,” as defined by the US government.
