In a sweeping new initiative, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-driven “Catch and Revoke” program to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who express support for Hamas or other designated terrorist organizations, senior State Department officials revealed to Axios on Thursday.
The program would see AI tools scanning tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts. Officials say the reviews focus on posts made after Hamas' brutal October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
State Department officials confirmed to Axios they are also analyzing internal databases to identify visa holders arrested during the Biden administration who were nonetheless allowed to remain in the country. Additionally, they are scrutinizing news reports of anti-Israel demonstrations and lawsuits filed by Jewish students alleging antisemitic activity by foreign nationals.
The crackdown is part of a broad interagency effort, with the State Department working alongside the Justice and Homeland Security departments. One senior State official described it as a “whole of government and whole of authority approach.”
In the early stages of the “Catch and Revoke” initiative, federal officials reviewed 100,000 individuals in the Student Exchange Visitor System since October 2023 to determine if any visas had been revoked due to arrests or school suspensions.
"We found literally zero visa revocations during the Biden administration, which suggests a blind eye attitude toward law enforcement," one official told Axios.
Under US law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 grants the Secretary of State the authority to revoke visas for individuals deemed a threat. Rubio, a strong advocate for this policy, reaffirmed its necessity just eight days after Hamas’ attack.
"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 declared.
President Donald Trump echoed this stance in a January 30 White House statement linked to an executive order targeting antisemitism and pro-Hamas activity.
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice. We will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said at the time.
The Axios report noted that with Trump’s policies in full force, foreign student protesters are increasingly cautious about engaging in anti-Israel demonstrations.