Unsealed files show Rubio approved visa revocations for five student activists

Federal documents unsealed on Thursday show Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the revocation of visas and deportation of five international student activists last year after receiving memos that largely described their participation in pro-Palestinian protests and their writings about the war in Gaza, according to internal government records.

The several hundred pages were submitted as evidence in a Massachusetts trial over noncitizen students' freedom of expression. Judge William G. Young had ruled that the administration illegally targeted the students for deportation based on their speech, and had initially sealed the records before agreeing to release them at the request of The New York Times and other media outlets.

The documents include DHS memos to the State Department recommending deportation for Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Badar Khan Suri and Yunseo Chung. The dossiers indicate arrests were recommended largely because of campus protest activity and public writings, and officials internally acknowledged that courts might view much of that conduct as protected First Amendment speech.

A State Department spokesman said Mr. Rubio's determinations were a matter of national security aimed at keeping 'terrorist-supporting' individuals out of the country. Agents also noted that DHS had found almost no alternative grounds for removability beyond a rarely used 1952 foreign-policy provision and wrote that 'D.H.S.

Key Topics

Politics, Marco Rubio, Dhs, State Department, Mahmoud Khalil