The State Department announced on Saturday morning that it was halting all visitor visas to people coming in from Gaza to “conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures” which were being used to issue a “small” number of visas to those seeking medical care, according to a post on X from the federal agency.
The move comes less than 17 hours after Laura Loomer, a far-right, anti-Muslim commentator close to President Donald Trump who has said she’s “pro-white nationalism,” complained online about Palestinians seeking medical care after being wounded by Israel’s continued offensive in the region.
“How is allowing for Islamic immigrants to come into the US America First policy?” she asked on X. “The jew hating GAZA first idiots pretend to be America First but they are America last. They want the US to be flooded with Muslims pretending to be refugees so they can cancel out our votes,” she continued, adding, “I don’t care if they are kids. The US is full.”
Since Friday, Loomer has gone on a posting spree, claiming, without evidence, that an “Islamist” in the State Department “is supporting terrorism or fast tracking visas for Islamists.” After the department announced that they were halting visas to those fleeing violence in Gaza, Loomer was quick to thank Secretary Marco Rubio and take credit for his agency’s decision, writing that she “saved so many American citizens from being killed by pro-HAMAS jihadis.”
According to an analysis by NBC News of monthly figures provided on the State Department’s website, the United States has “issued more than 3,800 B1/B2 visitor visas, which permit foreigners to seek medical treatment in the United States, to holders of the Palestinian Authority travel document so far in 2025.” In May, 640 visas were issued. The department’s numbers do not clarify how many of those visas were given to Gazans and how many people were from the West Bank in Palestine.
The Palestinian people coming into the US to seek medical care are fleeing a worsening situation in Gaza and the West Bank—one funded by American tax dollars and supported by the Trump administration. The president has repeatedly talked about taking over the Gaza Strip, potentially by force, and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
“I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable,” Trump said in a February press conference following a White House meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal,” he continued, adding, “we’ll do a job with it, too. We’ll own it.”
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