Just hours after Hamas sympathizers illegally surrounded and tried to break into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters this month and violently attacked U.S. Capitol Police, Democrat Senators once again blocked an effort by Florida Senator Marco Rubio to revoke the visas of foreign nationals who endorse or espouse terrorist activity, including those who defend or support Hamas.
As a part of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, Rubio offered a Motion to Instruct conferees to insist that the final conference report include a provision to revoke visas and initiate deportation proceedings for any foreign national who has endorsed or espoused terrorist activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or any another foreign terrorist organization. The language mirrored Rubio’s Terrorist Inadmissibility Codification Act.
Democrats objected and rejected the effort.
“A visa is not a constitutional right,” said Republican Senator Rubio. “It is a temporary permission for foreign nationals to visit our country. Supporting terrorism, as defined by U.S. law, disqualifies individuals from having a visa. It makes no sense to protect foreign nationals who support terrorism, but that is exactly what the Senate just voted to do.”
Current U.S. law prohibits supporters of terrorism or terrorist groups from entering the country. Yet certain foreign nationals in the U.S. have shown enthusiastic support for Hamas’s terrorist acts against Israel.
Despite what Sen. Rubio called obstruction from Senate Democrats, the U.S. Department of State recently confirmed that it has “broad authority under the INA to revoke visas” and will use that “authority when there is information or evidence indicating a visa holder may be ineligible for a U.S. visa.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently agreed with Senator Rubio that foreign nationals espousing terrorist views should have their visas rescinded.
