Officials will review social media posts for evidence of alleged terrorist sympathies made after Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. Additionally, internal databases will be examined to identify visa holders arrested but permitted to stay in the country during the Biden administration. Authorities are also monitoring news reports of anti-Israel demonstrations and Jewish student lawsuits involving foreign nationals allegedly engaging in antisemitic behaviour without consequence.
According to Axios, the State Department is working with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. A senior State Department official described this as a “whole of government and whole of authority approach.”To launch the initiative, federal officials evaluated 100,000 individuals in the Student Exchange Visitor System starting in October 2023 to determine whether any visas had been revoked due to the student being arrested or suspended from school. Typically, a consular official who issued the visa decides on revocation after being notified of an arrest or suspension. “We found literally zero visa revocations during the Biden administration, which suggests a blind eye attitude toward law enforcement,” said the official.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 grants the Secretary of State the authority to revoke visas from foreign nationals deemed to be a threat, Rubio said as a senator eight days after 7 October. “We see people marching at our universities and in the streets of our country … calling for Intifada, celebrating what Hamas has done … Those people need to go,” Rubio stated.
Former President Donald Trump has expressed similar sentiments. A 30 January White House fact sheet related to an executive order targeting antisemitism and “pro-Hamas” activity warned: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice. We will find you, and we will deport you.” Another executive order, announced on 20 January, targets visa holders and foreigners who “threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology.”
Advocates argue that the initiative raises concerns about free speech and its policing. Abed Ayoub, head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said, “This should concern all Americans. This is a First Amendment and freedom of speech issue, and the administration will overplay its hand. Americans won’t like this. They’ll view this as capitulating free speech rights for a foreign nation.”
Ayoub claimed that the initiative’s “blueprint” can be traced to Operation Boulder in 1972, when the Nixon administration infiltrated and surveilled pro-Palestinian groups, violating the rights of both US residents and foreigners. “With the advent of AI, it’s even scarier because they’re policing speech and using faulty technology,” he added.
A senior State Department official defended the initiative, stating: “It would be negligent for the department that takes national security seriously to ignore publicly available information about [visa] applicants in terms of AI tools. … AI is one of the resources available to the government that’s very different from where we were technologically decades ago.”
If social media posts from a foreign national appear to condone the attack on Israel or display “pro-Hamas” sentiments, the visa could be revoked.
