Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called on the U.S. government to revoke visas granted to international students who support Hamas and deport them as university protests continue across the country.
Blackburn said on NewsNation’s The Hill on Tuesday that the university “kicked out Jewish students shouting ‘I am Hamas,’ ‘we are Hamas,’ and ‘River to Sea,’ and the university did not take action.” I can’t do that.”
“In my opinion, if these students who are protesting and shouting ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ and… who are Hamas sympathizers are international students, I would deny their visas. It will be revoked and deported,” she continued.
Blackburn went on to argue that if you were a student in the U.S. who was a federal student loan borrower, she would cancel your loans because they are funded by taxpayer dollars.
The Tennessee senator’s comments came shortly after Columbia University students occupied a university building early Tuesday morning. Demonstrators barricaded the entrance to Hamilton Hall and hoisted Palestinian flags from the windows, a departure from the largely nonviolent protests on campus.
The movement has spread across the country, with pro-Palestinian protest encampments set up on many other university campuses. More than 1,000 people were arrested on campus as a result of the protests.
Many of the student demonstrators are calling on the school to withdraw from Israel and support efforts toward a ceasefire. Although the protests condemn anti-Semitism and do not explicitly support Hamas in the ongoing conflict, several incidents have become part of a larger controversy surrounding the protests.
Columbia University has expelled from campus a student movement leader who said “Zionists have no right to live.” A video of protest organizer Kaimani James has resurfaced, showing him saying people should be grateful for averting a “Zionist murder” earlier this year. James apologized for his own comments.
Mr Blackburn said if people are saying “on camera and saying, ‘I’m Hamas’, we should believe them” and add them to terrorist watch lists and no-fly lists. he said.
“We cannot continue this activity in silence and endanger Jewish students,” she said.
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