DeSantis says foreign students on visas who celebrate terrorism must be sent home

Florida GOP governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said that if he becomes president, he will send home foreign students who are here on student visas if they were celebrating terrorism. 

"When I’m President, if foreign students are out there celebrating terrorism, I will cancel their visas and send them home," DeSantis wrote on X Saturday. 

Earlier this month, college students from around the country held rallies in support of Hamas and the Palestinians following the Hamas attack against Israel that occurred on Oct. 7, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,400 Israelis.

Some of the colleges that took part in these pro-Palestinian protests include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Columbia University. 

"When the blood wasn't even dry on the Israelis who had been massacred, you had people in America going out protesting in favor of Hamas," DeSantis said in a video posted to X. "And that's very chilling. Some of these people are not U.S. citizens, they're student visas. So as president, if you're on a student visa and you're a foreigner and you're out there celebrating terrorism, I'm canceling your visa and I'm sending you home." 

Former President Donald Trump, on his platform TRUTH Social, has also called out universities for enabling anti-Semitism.

"What happened in Israel was barbaric!" Trump wrote on TRUTH Social earlier this month. "Now American Universities are allowing or enabling the open hatred against Israel and America! Instead of educating our young Americans, Deans stand idly by while subversive groups are calling for a National Day of Resistance."