“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a press conference in Guyana back in March.
At the time, a reporter had asked him if he could confirm that the State Department had revoked 300 student visas since Donald Trump took office. Rubio said that at that point, there might be more than 300. The reporter seemed shocked and appalled.
I’d hate to see what that reporter thinks now because, according to the State Department, it has now revoked over 6,000 student visas since Donald Trump took office in January.
“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” the State Department posted on X on Tuesday.
A Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, which first reported the news, that the revocations were “primarily due to visa overstays or encounters with the law, including assault, DUIs, burglary and support for terrorism.” Here’s a closer look at some of the numbers:
Those who had their student visas yanked due to assault — roughly 800 students — either faced arrest or charges stemming from assault, according to the State Department official.
Those whose visas were pulled due to support for terrorism — between 200 people to 300 people — engaged in behavior such as raising funds for the militant group Hamas, which the U.S. State Department has designated as a terrorist organization, the official said.
Fox also reports that the State Department has revoked over 40,000 visas in total in 2025. During a similar period of time, the Joe Biden administration pulled 16,000.
“Even if the previous administration was doing less, they were still revoking visas,” another State Department official told the news outlet. “It’s not something that just started on January 20… So this has happened for years.”
Rubio has made it clear since becoming Secretary of State that visas are not a right; they’re a privilege. They do not guarantee entrance into the United States — or any other country for that matter — and they do have an expiration date. Students from China and those who participate in pro-Palestinian protests on campuses have seemingly faced the most scrutiny.
“We have a right like every country in the world has a right to remove you from our country,” Rubio said back in March. He added:
So, it’s just that simple. I think it’s crazy. I think it’s stupid for any country in the world to welcome people into their country that are going to go to your universities as visitors — they’re visitors! — and say I’m going to your universities to start a riot. I’m going to your universities to take over a library and harass people. I don’t care what movement you’re involved with. Why would any country in the world allow people to come in and disrupt…we gave you a visa to come in and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we’ve given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we’re gonna take it away. I encourage every country to do that, by the way, because I think it’s crazy to invite students into your country that are coming onto your campus and destabilizing it. We’re just not gonna have it.
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