US revoked over 300 foreign student visas, Rubio says

WASHINGTON

The US revoked at least 300 foreign student visas as part of an ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference in Guyana, Rubio suggested the actual number could be even higher.

“Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point,” he said when asked about an Axios report. “We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” he added, emphasizing his commitment to stricter immigration policies.

Earlier, Axios reported that administration officials are considering barring certain colleges from admitting foreign students deemed “pro-Hamas.”

Rubio also confirmed the revocation of the visa of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk and defended her arrest following an article she wrote criticizing Israel.

"We revoked her visa," Rubio said, referring to Ozturk's F-1 student visa. "We give you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses."

"If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa," he added.

However, Rubio did not provide any evidence linking Ozturk to violence. Her friends and family say she was arrested following a campaign by Canary Mission, a pro-Israel website that blacklists pro-Palestine students and activists, stemming from an op-ed she co-authored in 2014 criticizing Israel.

Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University and a Fulbright scholar, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) late Tuesday near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, while heading to an iftar dinner to break her fast during Ramadan, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.

A viral video captured the moment of her detention, showing masked individuals handcuffing her and forcibly taking away her phone.

Ozturk’s detention comes amid the Trump administration's broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, including Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri.