Officials at the State Department announced they would review the visa approval procedures, according to The New York Times. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review," the agency stated in a Saturday morning post on X.
The decision followed an aggressive advocacy effort by right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who labeled the medical flights a "national security threat" through numerous social media messages beginning Friday that targeted a charitable organization facilitating medical evacuations, The New York Times reported.
Recently, the charitable group HEAL Palestine, based in Ohio and dedicated to assisting Palestinian families and children, had begun coordinating what it described as the "largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US," transporting wounded and sick Gaza children to America for medical treatment.
The organization reports it has evacuated 63 injured children for medical care, including 11 youngsters between ages 6 and 15, who were transported to medical facilities in nine American cities during August. Multiple children had suffered limb amputations during the Gaza conflict. The children will return to Egypt to reunite with their families after completing their medical care, HEAL Palestine indicated.
Dr. Zeena Salman, a HEAL Palestine co-founder, stated earlier in August that the medical evacuation flights represented life-or-death situations. "These children could not wait," Dr. Salman said. "Their lives are at stake, and this mission is about giving them a future."
Julia Gelatt, who serves as associate director of the US immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, revealed that over 9,000 individuals carrying Palestinian Authority travel documents had entered America on visitor visas during fiscal year 2024. "This move is consistent with the Trump administration's overall treatment of immigrants as constituting a threat to US public safety," Ms. Gelatt said. "But it is extremely hard to imagine how someone coming to the US for lifesaving medical treatment would present a national security risk."
Loomer, who exercises remarkable influence over Trump administration personnel and policy decisions despite lacking any official government position, stated she initially discovered the flights earlier in August, according to The New York Times. "I felt like this is something that needs attention," she explained during an interview. "Under the Trump administration, they are actively importing Gazans into the US. Clearly, this is not what we voted for."
Through social media platforms, Loomer highlighted a video published August 6 by HEAL Palestine, depicting Palestinian children arriving at San Francisco's airport. She later posted information about flights to St. Louis, San Antonio, and Houston and alleged without substantiation that the charitable organization maintained connections to Hamas, tagging state and federal officials in her messages. Representative Chip Roy, a Republican of Texas, replied to her on Friday evening on X, stating he was "deeply concerned about the incoming flights" and was conducting inquiries.
Loomer revealed she contacted Secretary of State Marco Rubio Friday night to inform him about the flights and what she characterized as an Islamic invasion threat. Loomer maintains an extensive record of anti-Islamic activism. During 2017, she published a social media message celebrating the drowning deaths of 2,000 refugees attempting to escape violence in Syria and other nations with significant Muslim populations by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
For multiple years, she has advocated for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sunni Islamist organization, to receive a terrorist designation from the US government, lobbying both congressional members and administrative officials, The New York Times reported. Rubio announced such a State Department designation was "in the works" during the previous week.
Medical transportation flights for children impacted by the Gaza conflict have operated for more than a year, organized by various charitable organizations. Dr. Mohammad Subeh, an emergency room physician volunteering with HEAL Palestine, explained he had previously treated some of the recently arrived Bay Area children during his service in Gaza. He described injuries, including orthopedic trauma and severe burns, worsened by malnutrition. "I am saddened to see fear and hate permeate within a small yet vocal segment of our society, whereby people have dehumanized children," he stated, by advocating policies to deny "life- and limb-saving care."
Andrew Miller, a former senior State Department official specializing in Israeli-Palestinian affairs during the Biden administration, explained that Gaza residents could only obtain US visas by appearing at embassies in Jerusalem, Cairo, or Amman and completing security examinations. "What's more, just to get to a US embassy outside of Gaza, the Israeli military and security services had to clear them and anyone accompanying them," he stated, adding: "From what I saw, any insinuation that we were taking an unusual security risk in these cases is baseless."
