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The Committee to Protect Journalists in a Friday letter called on U.S. Secretary of State Rubio to clarify recent decisions to revoke visas. Under the second Trump administration, the State Department has revoked visas for international journalists, as well as commentators and writers, in connection with their reporting or speech on foreign affairs.
On October 26, British commentator Sami Hamdi was arrested at the San Francisco International Airport before boarding a Florida-bound flight on a speaking tour for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The State Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have reported that Hamdi’s visa was revoked on October 24, after he entered the United States on a valid visitor visa on October 19.
According to his legal team, Hamdi is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in McFarland, California, a five-hour drive from San Francisco.
In June, Australian writer and blogger Alistair Kitchen was denied entry into the United States after border officials at the Los Angeles International Airport searched his phone and questioned him about his views during a 12-hour detention.
In March, Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk’s visa was also revoked after previously writing an op-ed in a student paper criticizing the school’s response to the Israel-Gaza war, and she spent six weeks in ICE detention, media outlets reported. CPJ has joined an amicus brief in Öztürk’s appeal.
CPJ’s letter requests clarification on how the State Department reviews the reporting or speech of visa applicants, and the rationale for detaining individuals with revoked visas indefinitely.
Read the full letter here.
Read the full article here
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