The State Department is reviewing the visa status of the “trespassers and vandals” who stormed Columbia University’s library Wednesday, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation,” Rubio said in a post on X Wednesday night, reports The Post Millennial.
Earlier in the day, around 100 pro-Palestinian protesters connected with the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a campus protest movement, took over the New York school’s main library, posting in a statement that as “long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, people will continue to disrupt Columbia’s profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance.”
The organization called for “full financial divestment from Zionist occupation, apartheid, and genocide, for the school to boycott “complicit institutions,” and amnesty for all students and staff who are “targeted” with disciplinary procedures.
Many of the protesters were cleared out and arrested by college public safety officers, but acting university President Claire Shipman called in the New York Police Department for assistance.
The protest began at about 3 p.m., and by roughly 7:30 p.m., 75 people had been arrested.
CUAD shared a video of several protesters linking arms and shouting, “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
“We know this moment is fleeting and that we do not have the capacity to hold it permanently at this time,” the group said in comments with the video. “But one day, this entire building and all the knowledge it holds will be liberated for good, and every book will belong to the free children of the world.”
The State Department also warned foreign nationals studying in the United States that if they break the law or support terrorism, their visas would be revoked.
“This administration will not tolerate noncitizens causing mayhem on our college campuses,” the statement said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also monitoring the situation and plans to fingerprint the protesters arrested to determine their immigration status, an ICE source told Fox News.
Students said they were forced to evacuate the library, where many were studying for finals.
The protesters were reportedly backing Mahmoud Khalil, the alleged leader of the Columbia’s pro-Palestinian protests. He was recently arrested and is being held in Louisiana.
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