Secretary of State Marco Rubio has halted all visitor visas from Gaza after two injured teens arrived from Gaza earlier this week.
The State Department says they are conducting “a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days”:
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.
— Department of State (@StateDept) August 16, 2025
These are the medical-humanitarian visas Rubio is referring to, which were given to a couple of teenaged boys:
The Palestinian teens flew into Dulles International Airport Saturday evening and were greeted with cheers and hugs and a large crowd waving flags. Both boys lost their left legs in explosions and one of the boys says he was also shot in the lower back. https://t.co/79YYhcNCHZ
— NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington) August 10, 2025
I love that Rubio is on top of this. I don’t know why these injured teens even got visas to come here, of all places, but I’m pretty sure they are going to be the last. And you can believe that these temporary visas will indeed be temporary.