A day after right-wing activist activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the US for medical treatment and questioned how they got visas, the State Department announced it's halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that the step was taken after "outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it," the AP reports. Loomer, an influential ally of President Trump's, had called the incoming flights a "national security threat."
The statement on Saturday said the visas won't be granted while the State Department looks into how "a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas" were issued in recent days. Members of Congress provided evidence that "some of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas," Rubio said, though he didn't say what the evidence was or name the organizations. "We are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship, if any, has there been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas," he said.
The Ohio-based nonprofit that helps Palestinian families and children reach the US for medical treatment objected to the decision on Sunday, per the New York Times. "This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program," HEAL Palestine said in the statement. "Our mission gives children a renewed chance at life, whether through lifesaving surgery or the ability to walk again." Without citing evidence, Loomer claimed in posts that the group is connected to Hamas. Republican Rep. Chip Roy answered the same day, posting that he was "deeply concerned about the incoming flights" and had begun making inquiries.
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