Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump's envoy for special missions, defended the White House's decision to revoke and deny visas to people who celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk, telling Newsmax on Friday that immigration is a privilege, not a right.
"Are you somebody who gets to come to our country?" Grenell told Newsmax's Jason Mattera at CPAC Paraguay on Friday. "It's a privilege. There's 100 million people who want to come into our country. Not everybody gets to. And so we have to have standards. And I think being a good human should be a standard."
The public celebration of political violence, such as the assassination in Utah of conservative leader and co-founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk, marks a dangerous cultural decline and must be met with stronger condemnation from leaders on the left, Grenell added.
"Well, I think it's a total breakdown of our society of not being able to speak, you know, having a system where you're canceled or violence against you," Grenell, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said. "We've got to be able to get back to the point where [with] your neighbor you can disagree, but you still pick up their mail, you still talk, you go out to dinner with people that you politically disagree with. That's what makes America so unique, and we've got to get back to that."
Grenell called the online glee expressed by some academics, medical professionals, and even government employees over Kirk's murder "inhumane, insensitive, [and] ugly."
Grenell added that responsibility for lowering the temperature starts with leaders on the left.
"I was happy to see [former Presidents] Barack Obama and Joe Biden condemn this," he said. "I feel like there needs to be a broader and louder kind of chorus on the left to really go after the people and say this is unacceptable to have violence and be so destructive in calling for violence or giving aid and comfort to it."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.