Sen. Rubio: Revoke visas of foreign students in anti-Israel protests

• Rubio repeated months-long call to revoke visas of students who support Hamas 
• Foreign students are joining pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses 
• READ: White House rejects revoking visas from pro-Hamas foreign students 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) reiterated calls to take away student visas from those participating in anti-Israel protests on college campuses.

Just days after the October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, Republicans began publicly calling on President Joe Biden to revoke visas of foreign college students if they expressed pro-Hamas sentiment.

Since then, protests at colleges have increased tenfold – with instances of threats of violence – and some universities are warning Jewish students and teachers to steer clear of campus for their own safety.

‘I saw another video of a Jewish student who had to get police – had to basically shame the police into escorting him so that he could go into an area of the university where he had every right to be because of these zombies, these antisemitic left-wing nutcases that the president should have been very firm about,’ Rubio told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream.

The senator is also doubling-down on calls for students who are not American citizens to be sent back to their countries if they are participating in these widespread demonstrations.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) reiterated months-long calls from Republicans to revoke visas of international students who support Hamas terrorists operating out of Gaza in the war with Israel

Students on college campuses across the U.S. set up encampments and pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the last several weeks to up calls for a ceasefire from Israel. Pictured: Protesters participate in prayer at the anti-Israel encampment at George Washington University in D.C. on Friday, May 3

But he claims Biden isn’t taking action even after seven months of war because he is ‘weak’ and ‘feeble.’

‘Joe Biden at very early on should have said as I asked him to do back in October, if… you’re not an American., you’re here on a visa, and you’re here to teach or you’re here to go to school and you’re out there chanting on behalf of Hamas and Hezbollah and these terrorist groups… you should have your visa revoked and eliminated,’ Rubio said.

He listed examples of what he claims are atrocities committed during these demonstrations, including defacing of the George Washington statue at GW University in Washington, D.C.

The Republican added that any non-citizen on a student or teaching visa who takes down American flags and puts up Palestinian ones should be removed.

While several universities have experienced disrupting demonstrations, Columbia University is possibly the most well-known example of clashes between the student protesters and their administrators, as well as from Republican lawmakers.

Students set up an encampment on the New York City campus and refused to take it down even following threats of law enforcement action to remove them.

Rubio says the protesters ‘hate America’ and if on visas should immediately have them revoked and then removed from the country.

‘[Biden] should have been very clear about whose side we’re on from the very beginning,’ the senator told Fox on Sunday morning, adding: ‘Look, there’s a bunch of Democratic donors, major Democratic donors who are behind the groups that are funding all this.’

Protesters link arms outside Hamilton Hall to barricade students inside the building at Columbia University on April 30

Just a few weeks after the initial Hamas attack on Israel, 19 Republican lawmakers joined forces to call for foreign students who expressed support for the terrorist group to have their visas revoked.

‘We write to request information regarding the potentially unlawful presence on U.S. soil of non-immigrant foreign nationals who have endorsed terrorist activity,’ they said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The White House pushed back at the time, warning the proposals would not pass First Amendment protections on free speech.

‘I would just tell you, you don’t have to agree with every sentiment as expressed in a free country like this to stand by the idea of the First Amendment and the idea of peaceful protest. I’ll leave it at that,’ White House national security spokesman John Kirby said at the time.

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