Rubio: State Department Likely Revoked Thousands of Visas
Senator Marco Rubio suggested that the State Department has likely revoked thousands of visas since President Donald Trump assumed office. He made these remarks during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
“I am unsure of the precise number currently, but we likely need to take further action,” the former Senator stated. “We intend to continue revoking visas for individuals who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education institutions.”
This estimation represents a notable increase from late March, when Rubio mentioned previous student visa cancellations.
“A visa should be seen as a privilege, not a guaranteed right,” he emphasized on Tuesday.
The Trump Administration has been canceling student visas as part of its broader crackdown on immigration. Specifically, foreign students who have voiced pro-Palestinian opinions have been targeted, especially after protests occurred across numerous colleges and universities. These protests aimed to pressure schools to divest and express opposition to the U.S.’s strong backing of Israel during the ongoing Gaza conflict.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Tufts University, was arrested by ICE earlier in the year after she spoke out against her university’s lack of acknowledgment regarding Senate resolutions related to the Gaza conflict.
Ozturk has since been released. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and key organizer of the college encampments, remains in detention in Louisiana, where he has been held for nine weeks.
In April, the Administration attempted to revoke the immigration status of thousands of international students. However, this decision—which reportedly affected approximately 4,700 students—was reversed later in the month following numerous legal challenges and protests. The Department of Justice announced that the students’ immigration records would be reinstated.
Tensions remain high between the Trump Administration and higher education institutions as federal officials try to force universities, such as Harvard, to meet Administration demands. These demands include eliminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, or facing the loss of federal funding.
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