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State Department Deploys AI to Deny Visas to Visitors with Pro-Palestinian Views

HeadlineMar 07, 2025

Axios is reporting Secretary of State Marco Rubio is deploying artificial intelligence to help identify and revoke visas for individuals the State Department believes support Hamas or other U.S.-designated terror groups. The process involves scanning tens of thousands of social media accounts, in particular to identify students who participated in antiwar and pro-Palestine protests since October 7, 2023. Abed Ayoub, head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said, “This should concern all Americans. This is a First Amendment and freedom of speech issue and the administration will overplay its hand.”

Earlier this week, Trump threatened to prosecute and deport foreign students who take part in such protests, and cut funding for universities that allow them.

Undeterred, hundreds of students at Harvard and Columbia this week led protests against former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who had speaking engagements at the Ivy League schools.

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