State Department move comes as Israel\u2019s war and induced-famine in Gaza reach new extremes, with 61,827 killed so far.<\/p>\n
The United States has announced that it is halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a \u201ca full and thorough\u201d review, a day after social media posts about Palestinian refugees sparked furious reactions from right-wingers.<\/p>\n
The Department of State\u2019s move on Saturday came a day after far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer posted on X that Palestinians \u201cwho claim to be refugees from Gaza<\/a>\u201d entered the US via San Francisco and Houston this month.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is allowing for Islamic immigrants to come into the US America First policy?\u201d she said on X in a later post, going on to report further Palestinian arrivals in Missouri and claiming that \u201cseveral US Senators and members of Congress\u201d had texted her to express their fury.<\/p>\n Republican lawmakers speaking publicly about the matter included Chip Roy of Texas, who said he would inquire about the matter, and Randy Fine of Florida, who described the alleged arrivals as a \u201cnational security risk\u201d.<\/p>\n By Saturday, the State Department announced it was stopping visas for \u201cindividuals from Gaza\u201d while it conducted \u201ca full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days\u201d. It did not provide a figure.<\/p>\n All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.<\/p>\n \u2014 Department of State (@StateDept) August 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The US issued 640 visas to holders of the Palestinian Authority travel document in May, according to the Reuters news agency. B1\/B2 visitor visas permit Palestinians to seek medical treatment in the US.<\/p>\n Loomer greeted Saturday\u2019s State Department announcement with glee.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how fast we can get results from the Trump administration,\u201d she said on Saturday, though she later posted that more needed to be done to \u201chighlight the crisis of the invasion happening in our country\u201d.<\/p>\n While I appreciate the State Department and @marcorubio<\/a> issuing this statement, I want to press even harder to highlight the crisis of the invasion happening in our country. <\/p>\n The visas and arrivals of GAZANS to US airports isn\u2019t new. This has been drastically increasing in speed\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/mI5APTairz<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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