US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US has revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to target pro-Palestinian activists on university campuses.
“Possibly more than 300 by now,” Rubio said during a visit to Guyana. “We do it every day, each time I find one of these lunatics.”
Rubio was responding to a question about the number of student visas revoked in connection with actions considered anti-Israeli at US universities.
This comment comes after the detention of a Turkish doctoral student, Rumeysa Ozturk, attending Tufts University, which Rubio defended. A video showing Ozturk being escorted by masked, plainclothes officers to an unmarked car outside Boston has gone viral, leading to protests online.
Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar on an F-1 student visa, is pursuing a doctoral program in Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University.
Rubio was asked why Ozturk’s visa was revoked. He responded: “Here’s why: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If you apply for a student visa to come to the United States and state you intend to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, occupy buildings, and create chaos, we won’t grant you that visa.”
It remains unclear if Ozturk has been charged with any crimes. Rubio did not specify any allegations against her. Ozturk has participated in pro-Palestinian protests and co-wrote an opinion piece for Tufts’ student newspaper calling for the university to divest from companies linked to Israel and to acknowledge “Palestinian genocide.”
Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk’s lawyer, told Reuters, “Based on patterns we’re seeing nationwide, her exercise of free speech rights appears to have contributed to her detention.”
This arrest is part of a broader trend of actions against international students in the US who support Palestinians. The Trump administration has invoked the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the deportation of non-citizens deemed “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the US.
The arrests align with Trump’s commitment to combat what his administration labels as antisemitism, a stance formalized in an executive order issued in January. Since then, the White House revoked $400 million in funding from Columbia University, accusing it of failing to address antisemitism on its campus and threatening to impose similar actions on other universities.
One of the most prominent arrests involved Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist, who remains detained in Louisiana without charges.
Ozturk was also taken to a detention center in Louisiana. Although a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled she should remain detained in Massachusetts, records show she is still held in Louisiana. The government has been ordered to provide further details on her arrest by Friday.
Earlier this week, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin claimed Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that delights in killing Americans.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, called Ozturk’s arrest “the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties,” adding, “The Trump administration is targeting students with legal status and ripping people out of their communities without due process. This is an attack on our Constitution and basic freedoms – and we will push back.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop its efforts to deport another student, Yunseo Chung from Columbia University, a 21-year-old legal permanent resident who moved to the US from South Korea as a child.
Rubio emphasized that the US grants student visas for academic purposes, not for activism. “If you lie to get a visa and then engage in that behavior once you’re here, we’re going to revoke it,” he said.
