The State Department said it revoked at least six visas from foreigners who made public comments celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The department made the announcement on social media shortly after Tuesday’s White House ceremony honoring Kirk and awarding him posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to his wife, Erika Kirk.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the department wrote on X. “The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
It listed examples of “aliens who are no longer welcome to the U.S.,” but didn’t provide names. The six came from Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Paraguay.
A Mexican said Kirk “died being a racist, he died being a misogynist” and “there are people who deserve to die. There are people who make the world better off dead,” according to the State Department.
A Brazilian blamed Kirk for a Nazi rally and said he “died too late,” the department said.
The department said President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will defend our borders, our culture, and our citizens by enforcing our immigration laws.”
The agency added, “Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed.”
The revocations come after Mr. Rubio warned last month, “America will not host foreigners who celebrate the death of our fellow citizens.”
He said those who do should “prepare to be deported.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on Sept. 11, the day after Kirk was assassinated while speaking on a college campus in Utah, that he was “disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing or making light of the event.”
Mr. Landau said he directed consular officials to monitor comments and bring them to his attention.
Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA for college-age conservatives, has been lauded as a champion of free speech. On the day he was murdered, he was on the first stop of his college campus tour, ready to debate those who disagreed with him.
The visa revocations have been criticized by free speech advocates and attorneys.
Immigration attorney Eric Lee, president and executive director of the Consular Accountability Project, said the organization would represent anyone who had their visa revoked by the State Department “due to Charlie Kirk-related speech” pro bono.
Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney and legislative adviser at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, called the revocations unconstitutional.
“These kinds of visa revocations are censorship, plain and simple. Mere ’mockery’ can’t be grounds for adverse government action — whether revocation of broadcast licenses or revocation of visas,” she said. “While the government can revoke visas for many reasons, the First Amendment forbids it from doing so based on viewpoint.”
