Republican Presidential Candidates Promise Visa Revocation of Int’l Students Protesting Against Israel

Three Republicans running for President of the United States, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, and former President Donald Trump, expressed their intentions to impose penalties on international students attending US colleges who protest against Israel.

The US Sen. Tim Scott said on Twitter, the platform now known as X, that international students on study visas who were involved in protests against Israel should be sent back home, Erudera.com reports.

“Anyone who stands up in support of terrorism and the inhumane murder of Jews should have their visa revoked. We have to stop indoctrinating students with the mindset that America is evil and that Western democracies are somehow oppressors,” Scott posted on X.

Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis also said that there were people in America protesting in favor of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, some of whom are international students.

“As President, if you are on a student visa, and you’re a foreigner, and you’re out there celebrating terrorism, I’m canceling your visa and I’m sending you home,” DeSantis said during a campaign event held earlier this month.

Similarly, former President Donald Trump said that his administration would also cancel visas of antisemitic international students and force them to return to their home countries.

“Under the Trump administration, we will revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities and we will send them straight back home,” former President Trump said.

Nineteen Republican House members have called on the Biden administration to take similar actions and deport international students staying temporarily in the United States, who have supported Hamas, Fox News reported.

These calls come after several universities across the nation saw student groups issue statements either in support of Hamas or holding Israel entirely responsible for the October 7 terrorist attacks.

Many student protests have been held, calling for the war between Israel and Hamas to stop or condemning actions by Israel in the Palestinian territories where more than 8,000 people have been killed, the majority civilians. 40 percent of people confirmed to have been killed are children.

Some students attended other protests, such as one in New York City, which received criticism from lawmakers from different political parties for their antisemitic elements.

At Harvard University, over 30 student organizations issued a joint statement following the Hamas attack, putting full blame on the Israeli government for all the ongoing violence in Palestine. Soon after the letter was released, a group of business leaders in the US urged Harvard to publish the names of students who signed the letter so they don't hire them after graduation.

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