The US State Department has revoked at least 300 visas, many to foreign students, as it cracks down on people who participated in protests against Israel's war in Gaza, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday. It comes two days after a Turkish doctoral student was arrested on the street and taken to a distant detention centre.
The State Department has focused on students who joined pro-Palestinian protests last year, including former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil over his involvement as a lead negotiator for the student protests at the New York institution.
“We do it every day,” Mr Rubio told reporters during a press conference in Georgetown, Guyana. “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take it away.”
The administration of President Donald Trump has been outspoken in its disdain for those who took part in the protests, claiming they are anti-Semitic or supportive of Hamas. On Tuesday, immigration enforcement agents wearing hoodies and masks arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Critics say a video of Ms Ozturk being detained looks more like a kidnapping than a standard arrest. Democratic representative Ayanna Pressley accused the Trump administration of moving to “abduct students with legal status”.
“This is a horrifying violation of Rumeysa's constitutional rights to due process and free speech. She must be immediately released,” Ms Pressley said in a statement.
Ms Ozturk, who was detained while walking to meet friends for iftar, had been moved to an immigration detention centre in Louisiana by the time her lawyer went to court and a judge ordered her to be kept in the state of Massachusetts, US government lawyers said in a court document on Thursday.
Mr Rubio told The National he had not seen video of Ms Ozturk's arrest, but that agents often had to hide their faces to protect their identities.
A senior Department of Homeland Security representative told the AP that Ms Ozturk was detained after an investigation found she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organisation that relishes the killing of Americans". The department provided no evidence for the claims.
The Trump administration has responded that the US constitutional protection of free speech does not apply to non-citizens and has accused activist students of creating a dangerous atmosphere for Jewish students.
Ms Ozturk wrote an opinion piece in March 2024 that was critical of her university's response to several resolutions on the Gaza war, including acknowledging the “Palestinian genocide”.
“We revoked it,” Mr Rubio said of her visa. “If you apply for a visa to enter the United States to be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalising universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we're not going to give you a visa.
“If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa, participate in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa."
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
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The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe
Four stars
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Huroob Ezterari
Director: Ahmed Moussa
Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed
Three stars
Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
