Trump administration halts visas for people from Gaza after Laura Loomer questions arrivals

WASHINGTON A day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U S for therapeutic cure and questioning how they got visas the State Department noted it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review The State Department reported Saturday the visas would be stopped while it looks into how a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas were issued in newest days Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday informed Face the Nation on CBS that the action came after outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it Rubio explained there were just a small number of the visas issued to children in need of medicinal aid but that they were accompanied by adults The congressional offices reached out with evidence that particular of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas he asserted without providing evidence or naming those organizations As a end he noted we are going to pause this campaign and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship if any has there been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas Loomer on Friday posted videos on X of children from Gaza arriving earlier this month in San Francisco and Houston for clinical therapy with the aid of an organization called HEAL Palestine Despite the US saying we are not accepting Palestinian refugees into the United States under the Trump administration these people from Gaza were able to journey to the U S she noted She called it a national shield threat and demanded who signed off on the visas calling for the person to be fired She tagged Rubio President Donald Trump Vice President JD Vance GOP Texas Gov Greg Abbott and California Gov Gavin Newsom a Democrat Trump has downplayed Loomer s influence on his administration but several representatives swiftly left or were removed shortly after she publicly criticized them The State Department on Sunday declined to comment on how multiple of the visas had been granted and whether the decision to halt visas to people from Gaza had anything to do with Loomer s posts HEAL Palestine commented in a message Sunday that it was distressed by the State Department decision to stop halt visitor visas from Gaza The group revealed it is an American humanitarian nonprofit organization delivering urgent aid and therapeutic care to children in Palestine A post on the organization s Facebook page Thursday shows a photo of a boy from Gaza leaving Egypt and headed to St Louis for cure and explained he is our th evacuated child arriving in the U S in the last two weeks The organization brings severely injured children to the U S on temporary visas for medication they can t get at home the report noted Following restoration the children and any family members who accompanied them return to the Middle East the message reported This is a diagnostic therapy campaign not a refugee resettlement initiative it announced The World Wellbeing Organization has repeatedly called for more biological evacuations from Gaza where Israel s over -month war against Hamas has heavily destroyed or damaged much of the territory s medical system Related Articles White House orders a review of exhibits at Smithsonian museums ahead of nation s th birthday DPS to restart negotiations with office staff now with a mediator after reaching impasse Denver airport to explore nuclear strength as option to power rise Colorado to receive million in training funds Trump administration had frozen for nearly a month South Park co-creator jokes he s terribly sorry over premiere that drew White House anger More than patients still need lifesaving therapeutic care that is not available in Gaza WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented Wednesday on social media and called on more countries to offer endorsement A WHO description of the curative evacuation process from Gaza published last year explained that the WHO submits lists of patients to Israeli executives for safety clearance It noted that before the war in Gaza began to patients were leaving Gaza daily for curative medication and it called for a higher rate of approvals from Israeli officers The U N and partners say medicines and even basic physical condition care supplies are low in Gaza after Israel cut off all aid to the territory of over million people for more than weeks earlier this year Ceasefire Peace is the best medicine Tedros added Wednesday