Key points
- Rubio says his department will continue to revoke visas “every day”
- Rubio’s remarks came in response to abduction of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk
- Trump has moved aggressively against student activists in universities
ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he has cancelled over 300 visas in a crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism and vowed to keep doing so, brushing aside furore after masked agents snatched a student.
In a press conference on Thursday, he claimed his office has torn up more than 300 student visas on his watch. The secretary of state called student activists “lunatics” and claimed that his department will continue to revoke visas “every day.”
“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio told reporters in Guyana. “Go back and do it in your country.”
Tufts University
Rubio’s remarks came in response to the abduction of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk by plainclothes immigration officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Western media reported.
Video of the encounter went viral on Wednesday. Ozturk, a Turkish national, helped author an op-ed denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza. That act seemed to be enough to trigger Rubio’s regime. Though he failed to provide specifics, Rubio said Ozturk’s actions went beyond sternly worded articles.
“If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you are coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not going to give you a visa,” Rubio shared.
Since his return to the White House on January 20, President Donald Trump has moved aggressively against student activists and universities over the disruptive protests that swept US colleges campuses in response to the Gaza war.
