US Secretary Marco Rubio Marco Rubio re -confirmed the pledge of the administration and canceled visas for foreigners who, according to the government, celebrate the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Rubio spoke to Fox News and explained the attitude of the administration: “We should not give visas to people who come to the United States and do things like celebrating murder, execution, assassination of political character,” he said.
“And if they are here, we should cancel their visa. Why would we like to bring people to our country, they will engage in negative and destructive behavior?”
Previous statement of the secretary representative
Rubie’s comments followed last week by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chris Landau on X, where he condemned foreigners who appreciated the attack: “With regard to yesterday’s terrible assassination of the leading political figure, I want to emphasize that foreigners celebrating violence and hatred are not welcome to our country,” Landau wrote.
“I was disgusted when I saw some on social media to praise, rationalize or light up the event and ordered our consular officials to take appropriate steps.”
He also invited the public to mark such online contributions for the revision of the Foreign Ministry.
Social media screening
On behalf of President Donald Trump, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expanded what he calls “widespread screening and screening”, which requires that the applicants to provide access to their social media accounts. Applicants must maintain public profiles, allowing consular officers to control positions for anti -American or anti -Semitic content.
At the beginning of this year, Rubio also announced that foreign nationals who have expressed support for Hamas may face the appeal of the visa.
The Foreign Ministry has deployed AI tools to analyze online activities and reviews exceeding social media on wider digital tracks.
Legal and political challenges
The widespread review of the administration caused criticism over the protection of the first amendment and a proper process. Civil freedom groups claimed that politics risk the penalty of legitimate political expression.
However, the state ministry prevented this approach and claimed that the visas were discretion. Officials emphasize that admission to the US is a “privilege, not right” for foreign nationals.
Internal instructions for consular staff
According to the Reuters report, which quoted the internal cable, consular offices were ordered in June to use “complex and thorough reviews” for student and exchange visas. This note emphasized the review of applicants who may have “hostile attitudes towards our citizens, culture, government, institutions or foundation principles”.
The latest Rubio cable ordered officers to draw attention to applicants for the history of political activism associated with violence. It warned that limited online activity could signal an attempt to hide undesirable behavior.
“The process includes a review of the entire online presence of the applicant,” he said, urging the use of “relevant search engines or other online sources”.
Political context
The Visa Directive comes when Trump’s administration intensified the control of elite universities. In particular, Harvard was accused of tolerating pro-Palestinian activism on academic soil.
Also read | Charlie Kirk Funeral: Date, Location and Expected participants | Details here (Tagstotranslate) US Visa Policy (T) Marco Rubio Visa Policy (T) Charlie Kirk Atesasination (T) US Visa Revocation (T) State Department Visa Screening (T) Chris Landau statements
