US suspends visas for Gazans after far-right influencer Laura Loomer's ‘flooding our country with jihadis’ posts
The US has suspended visitor visas for Gazans following complaints from far-right influencer Laura Loomer about medical evacuations for wounded Palestinians.
The U.S. government announced Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans, following complaints from far-right influencer Laura Loomer, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump.
The move came just a day after Loomer posted a series of angry social media messages, criticising the U.S. for allowing wounded Palestinians to enter the country for medical treatment. Loomer is known for spreading racist conspiracy theories, including the false claim that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job, as reported by AFP.
"All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X.
In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were "pro-HAMAS... affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar," without providing evidence.
Loomer's target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children -- as well as their caregivers and siblings -- arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.
It was "the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US," the charity said on its website.
‘Dangerous and inhumane’
"Truly unacceptable," Loomer wrote in another X post. "Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas."
"Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways," she said. Qatar is "literally flooding our country with jihadis," she added.
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Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were “also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US.”
Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy.
"Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura," Fine wrote on X.
The Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to "reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision."
Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement.
“Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza.”
Although Laura Loomer holds no official government position, she wields significant influence and has reportedly played a role in the ouster of several senior U.S. security officials whom she viewed as disloyal to Donald Trump.
In July, Loomer publicly criticised a job offer extended to a respected Biden-era official for a top role at West Point. The Pentagon withdrew the offer the next day.
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Earlier in April, Trump dismissed National Security Agency chief Timothy Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble, reportedly after Loomer urged the move following a meeting with the president at the White House.
“No other content creator or journalist has got as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!” Loomer boasted on X Saturday.
(With inputs from AFP)