US embassies warn European visa-seekers: 'You are a guest'
U.S. embassies in Europe have recently given stark warnings to visa-seekers amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
“When you apply to enter the United States and you get a visa, you are a guest,” the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia, said Monday on Facebook.
“Now, if you are in this country to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in if we had known that. You lied to us. You're out,” the embassy continued.
American embassies in Germany and the United Kingdom reposted a State Department post from last week on the social platform X featuring an earlier message from Secretary of State Rubio in which he said his country “has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists.”
“Violators of U.S. law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation, and deportation,” Rubio added in his message posted to X earlier this month.
The U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, said Sunday in a post on X that “U.S. visa screening does not stop after a visa is issued.”
“We continuously check visa holders to ensure they follow all U.S. laws and immigration rules — and we will revoke their visas and deport them if they don't,” the post continued.
Last week, a Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar, Badar Khan Suri, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the several foreign students within the U.S. who has been entangled in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns at universities.
Suri was arrested March 17 in Arlington, Va., according to a filing in the case. The Georgetown student was told by officers that his student visa had been revoked.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security assistant secretary, said on social media that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”