Rubio says US will deport visa holders praising Kirk’s murder

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Saturday, September 27, 2025U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesThe U.S. Department of State might deny visas or revoke the visas of people who celebrate or make jokes about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning the latter group to “prepare to be deported.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement in a Sept. 15 X post that included a clip from his interview on the same day with Fox News anchor and State Department and foreign policy correspondent Gillian Turner. In the social media post, Rubio declared that the U.S. will not “host foreigners who celebrate the death of our fellow citizens.” “Visa revocations are under way. If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported,” the Secretary of State wrote. “You are not welcome in this country.”The U.S. Department of State did not respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment regarding the number of visas that it had denied or revoked. During the Fox interview, Turner mentioned concerns that political violence is on the rise in the U.S., highlighting Kirk’s murder.The 31-year-old founder of the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA and TPUSA Faith frequently traveled to college campuses across the country to engage in conversations with students who disagreed with him on politics and social issues. Kirk was fatally shot during one such event on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. Speaking with Turner, Rubio said the assassination wasn’t just an attack against Kirk, but an attack against “this willingness to engage in political debate in this country.” Turner then asked the secretary of state if there were any plans to restrict visa access or revoke visas for those celebrating Kirk’s murder.Rubio replied that a visa holder is not the same as a U.S. citizen, describing the former as a “visitor” to the country. The secretary of state argued that the U.S. should not invite visitors who will be “involved in negative and destructive behavior.” “We shouldn’t be bringing people into this country. We should not be giving visas to people who are going to come to the United States and do things like celebrate the murder, the execution, the assassination, of a political figure,” Rubio stated. “We should not. And if they’re already here, we should be revoking their visa,” he added. “Why would we want to bring people into our country that are going to engage in negative and destructive behavior? It makes no sense.” Rubio’s statements about deporting or denying entry to people who trivialize Kirk’s murder come after the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau asked the public to bring examples of any such comments to his attention. “In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau wrote in an X post the day after Kirk’s assassination.“I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action,” he continued. One X user replied by sharing an article by Suzana Herculano-Houzel for the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, which was published on Sept. 11. Herculano-Houzel, a Brazilian neuroscientist associated with Vanderbilt University, wrote in the article: “Cancers, who would have thought, grow so fast when they use nerves as both microphones and speakers, in a feedback loop doomed to catastrophe. To eradicate a cancer, you must take away its voice. This is a good week for that.”In response to the user, Landau tweeted an image of a bat signal flashing the U.S. government seal and the phrase “El Quitavisas,” which translates to “the visa remover,” at the bottom of the picture. Landau used the same image in response to another X user who shared a video of a Mexican influencer known as Callo de Hacha saying that Kirk had “the same message as Hitler.”“How disgusting to justify the murder of a person who thinks differently simply by calling them Hitler,” Landau said about the influencer’s comments. “It is urgent that all people of good will reject this type of intellectual terrorism.”Following the assassination of the TPUSA founder, educators at academic institutions across the country have faced consequences for their remarks about Kirk. Teachers who publicly referred to Kirk as a “Nazi” or cheered the news of his murder have lost jobs or been suspended.Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman