Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday looked to make Washington’s position on the recent visa removal of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk “abundantly clear” and said anyone found to be “creating a ruckus” will have their visa revoked.
“I don’t care what movement you’re involved in,” he told reporters from a press event in Guyana. Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt?
“We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist,” he added.
VIDEO SHOWS ARREST OF TUFTS UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOR ALLEGEDLY SUPPORTING HAMAS
Rubio suggested that after Ozturk wrote a March 2024 op-ed criticizing the university’s ties to Israel amid the war in Gaza, he viewed her actions as equivalent to those who “vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, [and] create a ruckus.”
While her op-ed never mentioned support for Hamas, the terrorist network, it did call on the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to acknowledge the “Palestinian genocide.”
The Department of Homeland Security said it had found Ozturk to have “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” though it has not publicly released the evidence behind that determination.
TRUMP DOJ INVOKES STATE SECRETS IN TREN DE ARAGUA DEPORTATION CASE
But Rubio on Thursday maintained that “every country in the world has a right to decide who comes in as a visitor and who doesn’t.”
“I encourage every country to do that, by the way, because I think it’s crazy to invite students into your country that are coming onto your campus and destabilizing it,” he told reporters. “We’re just not going to have it.
“We’ll revoke your visa, and once your visa is revoked, you’re illegally in the country and you have to leave,” Rubio confirmed.
The secretary said the U.S. has thus far revoked some 300 visas.
“We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio said. “At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them. But, we’re looking every day for these lunatics.”
Rubio also highlighted that Washington’s push to revoke the visas of “destabilizing” visitors applies not only to students, but also to gang members.
The secretary pointed to the administration’s efforts to expel gang members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, who were first housed in the Guantánamo Bay prison before being transferred to Venezuela and El Salvador.
