Sunday, 5th April 2026
Khabor Wala Desk
Published: 19th August 2025, 11:17 AM
Washington D.C., USA – 19 August 2025 – The US State Department announced on Monday that 6,000 student visas have been revoked since Secretary of State Marco Rubio assumed office seven months ago.
Rubio’s move has been celebrated by President Donald Trump’s right-wing supporters, as he has actively invoked an obscure law permitting the rescission of visas for individuals deemed to act against US foreign policy interests.
Details of the Visa Revocations
| Category | Number of Visas | Notes |
| Total revoked | 6,000 | Since Rubio took office seven months ago |
| For law violations | ~4,000 | Includes assault, DUI, burglary, support for terrorism |
| Nationality | Not specified | Rubio has particularly targeted Chinese students |
| Method | Executive authority | No judicial review required for non-US citizens |
A State Department official explained: “The State Department has revoked over 6,000 student visas for overstays and law violations, the vast majority being assault, DUI, burglary, and support for terrorism.”
The official added that roughly 4,000 of the visas were revoked specifically due to legal violations.
Rubio has repeatedly emphasised that activist students protesting against Israel are under particular scrutiny, often labelling them anti-Semitic, a claim denied by the students themselves.
In March, Rubio told reporters: “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.”
This approach has sparked widespread debate over the limits of free speech rights for non-US citizens. Rubio has argued that the administration can issue and revoke visas without judicial review.
Despite the aggressive stance, the administration has faced setbacks in prominent cases:
| Student | University | Situation |
| Mahmoud Khalil | Columbia University | Legal permanent resident; led pro-Palestinian protests; freed in June by a judge; has sued the administration alleging intimidation |
| Rumeysa Ozturk | Tufts University | Turkish graduate student; critical article on Israel; freed by judge in May pending arguments; detained by masked agents in Massachusetts |
Khalil, whose son was born during his detention, filed a lawsuit claiming that the administration sought to “terrorise” him.
Ozturk had been apprehended off a street in Massachusetts by masked plainclothes agents before her release.
This initiative forms part of the Trump administration’s wider agenda of targeted visa enforcement and mass deportations of individuals living in the US illegally. Rubio has made it clear that he intends to continue aggressive measures against students perceived as a threat to US foreign policy, particularly from China.
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