Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) warned that he plans to cancel student visas if foreign students openly support Hamas.
DeSantis criticized students for holding protests supporting Hamas “before the blood was even dry on the civilians in Israel that had been massacred.”
“I can tell you this,” he said while campaigning, “when I’m president, if you’re a foreigner here on a student visa, and you’re making common cause with Hamas, I’m canceling your visa, and I’m sending you home.”
He noted that he was not against citizens’ First Amendment right to protest, but was appalled at the celebration of Hamas.
“It’s also representative of a sickness in our society that people would cheer that type of barbarism, and these universities have created a culture where that’s somehow okay,” he said.
DeSantis added that it is “totally appropriate” for companies to withdraw job offers from those who support the terrorist organization, saying, “I think it’s totally appropriate for these companies to look at students who signed the pro-Hamas letters and say, ‘you know what? We’re gonna withdraw job offers,’ and all that stuff.
A similar sentiment was shared by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR).
Cotton wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying, “I write to urge you to immediately 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. These fifth-columnists have no place in the United States.”
Donald Trump also said he would revoke student visas for those supporting terrorist groups.
Trump discussed the “open support for terrorists among the legions of foreign nationals on college campuses” in a speech, saying, “Under the Trump administration, we will revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners at our colleges and universities—and we will send them straight back home.”
