Ron DeSantis is backing Marco Rubio’s call to revoke visas for foreign nationals identified as Hamas supporters.
During an interview on the Guy Benson Show, the Governor affirmed Florida’s senior Senator’s demand that those who protest in favor of the foreign terrorist organization be removed from the country.
“You don’t have a right to be here on a visa. You don’t have a right to be studying in the United States and we have a right to defend our people. And I think that having that is a huge problem,” DeSantis said.
In a letter last week to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rubio urged him to “immediately use existing law to eradicate this hate from our country,” by conducting a “thorough review of all visa holders and applicants,” including at universities DeSantis says anti-American sentiment there is worse than it was after Sept. 11, 2001, with “radical ideologies” being foisted on students.
“I don’t think in our universities you had students signing letters praising what had happened there,” DeSantis said. “And then now you have a situation where they’re falling all over themselves to try to glorify Hamas.”
During the same interview, DeSantis again separated himself from the position of 2024 rival Nikki Haley. The former United Nations envoy believes that half of those on the Gaza Strip reject Hamas, and want to be free of “terrorist rule,” and that the U.S. can vet refugees successfully.
In the reckoning of DeSantis, who argued this weekend that even non-Hamas refugees from Gaza are “antisemitic,” the potential refugees are also anti-American. Additionally, he said it’s simply “not in our interest to be bringing people in from the Gaza Strip to the United States of America.”
“We’ve brought people in from other parts of the world. I mean, some of the people from Somalia have gone on to commit terrorist attacks in places like Minnesota, they’ve been arrested for terrorism,” DeSantis said.
The Governor does not believe it matters whether the potential refugees back Hamas or not.
“It’s not saying everyone in the Gaza Strip is a member of Hamas, although they did elect Hamas back in the day. And I guarantee (that) support amongst the population in the Gaza Strip for those attacks on Israel probably is very, very high in terms of public opinion. But it doesn’t even matter if they’re part of that. I mean, if they have this embedded in their worldview, which they do. And it’s sad and it’s nasty but it’s true,” DeSantis opined.
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