Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Sunday that the State Department suspended visitor visas for people from Gaza as a result of it acquired “evidence” that some organizations facilitating the visas to the US “have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,” with out offering additional particulars.
The State Department introduced in a post on X on Saturday that it might halt all visitor visas for people from Gaza because it evaluations the method that permits them to briefly enter the US for medical and humanitarian causes.
Rubio instructed CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “evidence” had been offered to the Trump administration by “numerous congressional offices” and that the division had acquired “outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it.”
He didn’t give particulars on the proof or the workplaces that offered it. Far-right Trump ally Laura Loomer has taken credit score for the pause within the visas following her claims that the households arriving from Gaza “threaten our national security.”
Loomer particularly criticized HEAL Palestine, an American nonprofit devoted to offering crucial help to Palestinian households, together with bringing children struggling from extreme accidents, psychological trauma and malnourishment to obtain care within the US. The group says it has evacuated 63 injured youngsters and 148 complete people.
The group, which returns Palestinians again to the Middle East after they’re handled in US hospitals, criticized the Trump administration’s transfer to halt visitor visas, saying in a statement on Sunday, “this is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program.”
As of May, the US has issued virtually 4,000 visas to people holding Palestinian Authority passports letting them search medical remedy in America. That quantity additionally contains Palestinians residing outdoors of Gaza, reminiscent of within the West Bank.
Rubio stated Sunday that whereas a “small number” of visas had been issued to youngsters, “they come with adults accompanying them, obviously, and we are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted.”
“We’re not going to be in partnership with groups that have links or sympathies towards Hamas,” he continued, with out naming any particular teams or offering extra info to corroborate the administration’s considerations.
NCS reached out to the State Department for extra details about the proof cited by Rubio.
President Donald Trump acknowledged final month there’s “real starvation” in Gaza, breaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump has grown more and more pissed off with.
“I see it, and you can’t fake that. So, we’re going to be even more involved,” Trump instructed reporters of the humanitarian disaster.