Conservatives are rallying against foreign students protesting against Israel amid its war with Hamas, calling on those students who do not support Israel to lose their visas.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said that “foreign national students on visas who are protesting against our ally Israel should be sent back to their country.”
“It’s devastating to see people in our country celebrating a terrorist organization for the annihilation of our Jewish brothers and sisters,” Scott wrote in a post on X. “Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the map, but they won’t stop there. They also want to eliminate all Jews on the planet and destroy Western democracy. Anyone who stands up in support of terrorism and the inhumane murder of Jews should have their visa revoked.”
“We have to stop indoctrinating students with the mindset that America is evil and that Western democracies are somehow oppressors,” he added.
Scott’s call echoes several other prominent Republicans who have condemned foreign students specifically taking part in anti-Israel demonstrations.
Former President Donald Trump vowed to revoke the visas of “radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners” like those involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, adding that those foreign nationals on college campuses were “teaching your children hate.”
Trump also pledged to bar Gazan refugees from the U.S. and said that if elected in 2024, he would expand his controversial first-term travel ban that targeted Muslim countries.
“We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security,” Trump said on Monday.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged the State Department to revoke the visas of anyone demonstrating in support of Hamas’ actions.
“During Fiscal Year 2022 alone, we issued more than six million nonimmigrant visas,” Rubio wrote. “However, the privilege of entering and staying in our great country is not afforded to those who wish to do us harm or advocate on behalf of Hamas.”
“I urge you to immediately use existing law to eradicate this hate from our country,” Rubio told Blinken.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) similarly called for the deportation of any foreign national supportive of Hamas, urging the Department of Homeland Security to “deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa—that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel.”
Cotton specifically called out student signatories to the letter by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, which stated that it holds “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” in the region.
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the statement read, referring to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which more than 1,300 Israelis were killed and nearly 200 were taken hostage in Gaza. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years.”
The statement has drawn furious backlash, including calls for blacklisting students who signed on from employment and the cutting of some outside funding.
In the letter to DHS, Cotton said: “Swiftly removing and permanently barring from future reentry any foreign student who signed onto or shared approvingly the anti-Semitic letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee on October 7 would be a good place to start.”
Nearly 1.4 million students held active visas to study in the U.S. during 2022.
