In an effort to crack down on student activists who support Palestinians, the U.S. has revoked hundreds of visas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday at a press conference. He is delivering on President Trump’s promise to deport noncitizens whose activism he claims supports Hamas terrorism and is antisemitic. This week, over a thousand people outside of Boston took to the streets to call on the government to free Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk. Federal agents in plain clothes and face masks arrested her. The agents plan to deport her.
A video of the student, Rumeysa Ozturk, being taken away by masked, plain-clothes officers to an unmarked car outside Boston, Massachusetts, has gone viral and sparked protests online.
Ms Ozturk is a Fullbright Scholar on an F-1 student visa and is in a doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development at Tufts.
Rubio was asked on Thursday why the Turkish student’s visa was revoked.
“Here’s why: I’ve said it everywhere, and I’ll say it again,” Rubio said. “If you apply for a student visa to come to the United States and you say you’re coming not just to study, but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa.”