NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The White House lauded the State Department for imposing consequences on foreign nationals who posted controversial statements following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.
The White House said the State Department’s decision to revoke visas for these foreign nationals is safeguarding Americans.
“President Trump has long called attention to the spread of left-wing political violence, which is driven by Democrats’ vile rhetoric characterizing Republicans as Nazis, fascists, and more,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement Wednesday to Fox News Digital. “The Trump administration is ensuring that so-called ‘guests’ in our country are not echoing this dangerous practice of celebrating and encouraging left-wing political attacks, which poses a national security threat to law-abiding Americans.”
On Tuesday, the State Department announced that it had yanked the visas of six, unidentified people for their comments in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination.
CHARLIE KIRK PAINTED AS ‘CONTROVERSIAL,’ ‘PROVOCATIVE’ IN MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION COVERAGE
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the State Department wrote on X Tuesday. “The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
In particular, the State Department said that those whose visas were pulled included a German national who said that “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” and a Paraguayan national who said “Charlie Kirk was a son of a b**** and he died by his own rules.”
Additionally, the State Department said it revoked the visa of a Mexican national who said Kirk “died being a racist” and that “there are people who deserve to die. There are people who would make the world better off dead.”
The State Department also said it revoked visas from foreign nationals from Argentina, South Africa and Brazil.
The agency signaled there would be consequences for visa-holders who mocked Kirk’s death on social media, and said in September that it would take “appropriate action” in response to such posts.
Critics of the State Department’s move have pointed out that Kirk himself was an advocate for free speech.
“US revokes visas for 6 foreigners for derisive posthumous comments about Charlie Kirk–who was, ironically, a self-styled champion of free speech!” David Axelrod, who served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in a Tuesday post on X.
TRUMP DEFENDS LABELING ANTIFA A ‘TERRORIST ORGANIZATION’ AS HE TARGETS LEFT-WING EXTREMISM
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has blasted “far-left radicals” for embodying the “devil’s ideology” amid political violence in the U.S.
“We’ve watched legions of far-left radicals resort to desperate acts of violence and terror because they know that their ideas and arguments are persuading no one,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House. “They know that they’re failing. They have the devil’s ideology and they’re failing.”
In particular, Trump pointed to recent violence at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, and inflammatory text messages recently unearthed from Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones describing a hypothetical scenario where he would shoot a Republican lawmaker in the head.
YEARS OF CAMPUS ATTACKS ON CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS RESURFACE AFTER CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER
Trump’s comments came as he posthumously awarded Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) co-founder, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is the highest award issued to civilians in the U.S.
Kirk, 31, was assassinated during his “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University in September — just over a year after two assassination attempts against Trump.
Tyler Robinson, the shooting suspect involved in Kirk’s assassination, was charged in September with aggravated murder, along with other charges.
Read the full article here
