The State Department said Tuesday it has revoked the visas of six people for making incendiary social media comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Some of them made comments that suggested Kirk deserved to be killed.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the State Department wrote on X.
“The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
The State Department did not specify whether any of the people are currently in the U.S. or what types of visas they held.
On Tuesday, the State Department announced that six individuals had their visas revoked for making inflammatory remarks regarding the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media.
The department said in a series of X posts that the six individuals, who were not identified, were from Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, and Paraguay. Kirk should be killed, according to some of their remarks.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the State Department posted on X. “The State Department is still identifying visa holders who rejoiced over Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder. “.”.
If any of the individuals are presently in the United States, the State Department did not say. S. or what kinds of visas they’d obtained. To get more details, CBS News has contacted the department.
On the day following Kirk’s death on a college campus in Utah, a senior State Department official promised to take “appropriate action” against any visa holders who glorify or trivialize Kirk’s passing. He also encouraged people to report any troubling posts they come across.
“Visa revocations are underway,” stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio a few days later. “,”.
Kirk died in September after being shot. 10. At an event hosted by Turning Point USA, a group he co-founded, he spoke to students at Utah Valley University. According to authorities, the shooter used a rifle to shoot Kirk from the roof of a nearby campus building.
A 22-year-old Utah man named Tyler Robinson was apprehended in connection with the murder after a two-day manhunt. Robinson is facing aggravated murder charges from state prosecutors.
The revocations are a part of a larger effort to suppress remarks that celebrate or make fun of Kirk’s passing. Vice President JD Vance has urged people to contact the employers of anyone who celebrates Kirk’s death, and the Pentagon and Secret Service have laid off agents or service members who posted disparaging remarks about Kirk on social media.
In other cases, the Trump administration has also attempted to cancel visas. In connection with campus demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza, it is attempting to deport a number of international students on charges of using antisemitic language, which the students have refuted. Additionally, it denied Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa last month for supporting the U.S. S. . troops to protest in New York and defy President Trump’s orders.
Last month, UCLA professor emeritus of law Eugene Volokh, who has written extensively about the First Amendment, told CBS News that the legal authority of the government to refuse or cancel visas on the basis of speech is still up for debate. The Supreme Court has decided that while the government has wide discretion to deny entry, federal authorities do not have the authority to deport individuals who are already in the United States. A. because they don’t speak as clearly.
Noncitizens “have the same First Amendment protections against, say, criminal punishment or civil liability as citizens do,” according to Volokh. “,”.
He claimed that the rules were unclear when it came to the issue of deportation or exclusion from the country in the first place.
