State Secretary Marco Rubio has warned that immigrants sympathizing with the recent wave of antisemitic attacks could have their visas revoked and face deportation.
Secretary Rubio’s comments follow an attack in Boulder, CO, against pro-Israel demonstrators calling for the release of all hostages in Gaza.
During the attack, illegal immigrant Mohamed Sabry Soliman approached a group of elderly protestors and began setting them and nearby areas on fire after shouting “Free Palestine!”
The attack itself followed a similar incident in Washington, DC, where two Israeli embassy workers were murdered by an individual similarly shouting slogans criticizing Israel and in support of Hamas.
Rubio, who has recently leveraged the State Department’s visa authority to deport terrorist sympathizers, warned immigrants against supporting antisemitic crimes or those perpetrating them.
“In light of yesterday’s horrific attack, all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump Administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you,” said Rubio.
As extensively reported by The Floridian, Rubio has long pledged to harness the State Department’s authority to expel sympathizers of Hamas and other anti-US, anti-Israel groups.
In late March, Rubio confirmed he had revoked the visas of hundreds of students participating in antisemitic riots across American University campuses.
Rubio promised to continue revoking visas until “we’ve gotten rid of all” terrorist sympathizers.
While campus protests have largely subsided, antisemitic violence has spilled into America’s streets.
According to Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports, since January 2020, there have been 16 terrorist plots or attacks targeting Jews or Jewish institutions in the U.S., nine of which occurred within the past 11 months.
As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, some lawmakers worry that biased, anti-Israel news reporting is festering antisemitic sentiment across the US.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, for example, recently published a statement in which he called for the New York Times, AP, and CNN to retract statements spreading Hamas misinformation on the war in Gaza.
“Media sources who willingly parrot these libelous allegations should recant their fake news stories, apologize, and pledge to practice actual reporting of fact instead of engaging in dangerous propaganda that assists the terror group Hamas as they continue to hold innocent hostages for over 600 days after butchering over 1,200 people on October 7th,” reads Ambassador Huckabee’s statement.
