October 20, 2023

The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas

Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

The Honorable Antony Blinken

Secretary, U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Blinken and Secretary Mayorkas:

We are concerned by recent reports of demonstrations on U.S. soil, including student
demonstrations, in support of Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, following the
shocking terrorist attacks by Hamas on our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. These
demonstrations potentially involve student visa holders.
We write to request information regarding the potentially unlawful presence on U.S. soil of non-
immigrant foreign nationals who have endorsed terrorist activity.

Student visa applicants, like all non-immigrant visa applicants, must qualify under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to be approved for a visa. They are subject to a wide
range of ineligibilities in Section 212(a) of the INA.

Section 212(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII) of the INA states that, “any alien - who endorses or espouses
terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist
organization… is inadmissible.” If this is apparent at the time of an applicant’s interview, the
adjudicating consular officer would refuse to issue them a visa. Limited, situational exemptions
to (3)(B) ineligibilities are available for individuals, depending on their personal circumstances. i

Sometimes, a serious ineligibility for an individual is discovered after they’ve been granted a
non-immigrant visa. For example, a student visa holder might commit a felony, or overstay his
visa, or otherwise jeopardize his status by triggering a 212(a) ineligibility. In such cases, the
continuous vetting employed by the Department of Homeland Security could result in the
revocation of his visa. With the concurrence of the Department of State’s issuing embassy or
consulate, this should then result in the initiation of removal proceedings against the offending
visa holder.
On Sunday, October 8, 2023, one day after over 1,300 mostly civilian Israelis were murdered by
Hamas terrorists, the La Fuerza [the force] Student Association at California State University
Long Beach held a rally to “Protest for Palestine.” The group displayed a poster featuring an
image of a paraglider that resembles the terrorists who used hang-gliders to descend upon the
Supernova music festival in Israel. The terrorists gang-raped young women, took hostages, and
murdered more than 260 civilians.ii The same day, at George Washington University in
Washington D.C., dozens of students rallied in support of Palestinian political violence. In New
York City’s Times Square, Democratic Socialists of America members and allies demonstrated
in support of Hamas. They shouted slogans including “smash the settler Zionist state.”
According to one account, some demonstrators “held up the number seven on their hands [to
indicate the number, in hundreds, of Israelis who had so far been confirmed murdered] while
making throat-slitting gestures.” The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Tufts
University issued a statement praising Hamas terrorists as “liberation fighters” who, in their
murderous attack on Israeli civilians, had shown “the creativity necessary to take back stolen
land.”iii The SJP chapter at Swarthmore praised Hamas terrorists for having “valiantly confronted
the imperial apparatus” of Israel, and honored the Hamas terrorists who died during the assault as
“martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for liberation.”iv

Hamas is a terrorist organization, designated as such by the U.S. in 1997. In some U.S. campus
demonstrations, students chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a
call for the elimination of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state—something that could only come
about through violence. Others student demonstrator slogans and memes, such as the paraglider
terrorist, are most reasonably interpreted as endorsing or espousing terrorism. Similarly, praising
mass murder as “creative” or “valiant” and glorifying the perpetrators of such atrocities as
“martyrs” are clear endorsements of terrorism and terrorist organizations.

Videos of the above and similar demonstrations, signs there exhibited, social media posts from
the organizers, and common sense all suggest that at least some of the individuals at these and
numerous other rallies hold F-1 Visa (student) or J-1 Visa (exchange visitor) status. Affirmative
encouragement of political violence against civilians by non-immigrant visa holders would
appear to meet the definition of “endorses or espouses terrorist activity” under
s.212(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII).

The U.S. issued 437,018 F-1 Visas and a further 315,065 J-1 Visas in Fiscal Year 2022, the last
year for which the Visa Office has released an annual report. v Foreign students contribute much
to our society, but individuals who advocate terrorist violence against civilians are not welcome
here. If a visa was issued before DHS uncovers evidence of a visa-holder’s ineligibility under
INA s.212(a)(3)B), in the interest of national security, the individual in question should
immediately have their visa revoked and face expedited deportation proceedings.

No later than November 7, 2023, please provide us with a written response to the following
questions:
(i) Does your Department have reason to believe that any current F1, J1, H1, or other
non-immigrant visa holders have been rendered ineligible as a result of ‘endorsing or
espousing’ terrorist activity by Hamas?
 (ii) Has your Department moved to review or revoke the visas of any such individuals
and place the holder into expedited removal proceedings?

Sincerely,

_________________ __________________
Jim Banks Jeff Duncan
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ __________________
Josh Brecheen Harriet Hageman
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ __________________
August Pfluger Scott DesJarlais
Member of Congress Member of Congress

________________ __________________
Mike Waltz Ralph Norman
Member of Congress Member of Congress
_________________ __________________
Randy Weber Bill Johnson
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ __________________
Bill Posey Mike Carey
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ __________________
Lauren Boebert George Santos
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ __________________
Clay Higgins Gus Bilirakis
Member of Congress Member of Congress

_________________ _____________________
Claudia Tenney Brian Babin, D.D.S.
Member of Congress Member of Congress
_________________
Trent Kelly
Member of Congress

i
h ps://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/other-resources/terrorism-related-inadmissibility-grounds-trig/terrorism-
related-inadmissibility-grounds-exemp ons
ii
The same meme was posted by the Chicago chapter of BLM, which also tweeted “We stand with Pales ne & the
people who will do what they must to live free.”
iii
h ps://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2023/10/11/tu s-group-cri cized-pro-hamas-comment-israel-
conflict/
iv
h ps://web.archive.org/web/20231012000737/h ps://swarthmorevoices.com/content-
1/2023/10/9/swarthmore-students-for-jus ce-in-pales ne-in-solidarity-with-the-pales nian-resistance
v
Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, “Table XVI (Part I) Nonimmigrant Visas Issued Fiscal Year 2022,”
h ps://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Sta s cs/AnnualReports/FY2022AnnualReport/FY22_TableXVI.pdf
(accessed October 16, 2023).