Marco Rubio Plans to Use AI to 'Revoke' Visas of Students Who Appear 'Pro-Hamas' on Social Media

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is spearheading a new initiative, dubbed "Catch and Revoke," aimed at canceling visas for foreign nationals who express support for Hamas or other designated terrorist groups online.

The program will employ AI-driven monitoring to scrutinize the social media activity of tens of thousands of student visa holders, senior State Department officials told Axios.

Any foreign national found to have posted content that appears sympathetic to Hamas—particularly after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel—could have their visa revoked. The AI will also be used to review and monitor news reports on demonstrations that could be viewed as anti-Israel, with the intention of singling out any participating foreign nationals.

Rubio and President Donald Trump have strongly advocated for the initiative, citing national security concerns. "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.

A senior State Department official argued that ignoring publicly available information from social media would be negligent. "AI is one of the resources available to the government that's very different from where we were technologically decades ago," the official said.

However, civil rights advocates, including Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, warn that the program infringes on free speech. "This should concern all Americans. This is a First Amendment and freedom of speech issue, and the administration will overplay its hand," Ayoub cautioned.

Critics fear the AI-driven monitoring could disproportionately target Arab and Muslim students while setting a precedent for broader speech policing.

The initiative is already having an impact, with student visa holders reportedly avoiding protests critical of Israel out of fear their immigration status could be threatened.

With Trump's executive orders reinforcing a hard-line stance on foreign nationals engaging in "pro-jihadist" or "hateful" rhetoric, the program signals a significant shift in how the US government polices political expression among visa holders.