Amid the Trump administration's ongoing legal immigration push and fights with American colleges flooding their institutions with foreign students, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a "new visa restriction policy" targeting "foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans."
"For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights," Rubio wrote in an announcement on X.
"Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life — a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority," wrote Rubio.
Entering the U.S. is a privilege and not a right, Rubio stressed, as Biden administration holdovers, Democrat lawyers and liberal activists are seeking to obstruct President Donald Trump's administration on deportations, border security and visa restrictions.
"Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country," Rubio added in an ensuing X post. "Whether in Latin America, Europe or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over."
Rubio's news comes one day after State Department cables revealed foreign visa interviews had been put on hold for new guidance.
A Rubio cable sent Tuesday ordered pauses of U.S. Embassy and consulate interviews for student visa applications.
"Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days," the cable read, according to Politico.
"Septel" is the State Department term for future guidance to come. That guidance appears to have been the visa restriction policy Rubio just announced.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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