Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an artificial intelligence-based initiative by which he intends to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terrorist groups. The project has been dubbed “Catch and Revoke.”
The initiative will involve the use of AI to review tens of thousands of social media accounts of student visa holders. It will also review news reports of anti-Israel protests at local universities following the outbreak of war in Gaza, and Jewish student complaints to identify foreigners who may be involved in anti-Semitic or otherwise pro-Hamas activities.
The Department of State is working with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in what a senior State official called a “whole-of-government approach.” To launch “Catch and Revoke,” federal officials screened 100,000 people in the Student Exchange Visitor System from October 2023 to see if their visas had been revoked as a result of an arrest or because they were suspended from their respective academic institutions.
Rubio will also be able to take advantage of the Immigration Nationality Act, a 1952 law that gives the Secretary of State the authority to revoke visas from foreigners deemed a threat. “We see people marching at our universities and in the streets of our country … calling for Intifada, celebrating what Hamas has done … Those people need to go,” Rubio said.
Rubio’s words and operation follow statements made by President Trump on his return to the White House. In late January, the MAGA leader declared: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice. We will find you, and we will deport you.”
“This should concern all Americans”, Abed Ayoub, leader of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, explained, “This is a First Amendment and freedom of speech issue and the administration will overplay its hand. Americans won’t like this. With the advent of AI, it’s even scarier because they’re policing speech and using faulty technology”.
According to insiders, even a single post released on social media praising Hamas could now be enough to have one’s visa revoked.
