Action will be taken against foreigners in the United States who are considered to be “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” Charlie Kirk’s death, a top state department official has said.
The statement comes in a wider context of an aggressive crackdown on free speech and dissenting views in the US under the second Trump administration, especially when it comes to campus protests sparked by Israel’s war on Gaza.
In a post on X on Thursday morning, the deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, wrote that “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country” and said he had directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” against those deemed to be “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” Kirk’s death on social media.
Landau invited X users to bring such cases to his attention in the comments of his post, which he said would be monitored by consular officials.
Kirk, a close Trump ally and rightwing provocateur, was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday. His death has shocked the nation and prompted outrage across the political spectrum.
A state department spokesperson said: “This administration does not believe that the United States should grant visas to persons whose presence in our country does not align with US national security interests.”
Previously the Trump administration has directed investigators at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), who would typically target human traffickers and drug smugglers, to track down foreign students who may have shown sympathy for the Palestinian cause or criticized Israel in social media posts. The administration has gone after those who have taken part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations across university campuses.
Investigators also now look for “anti-American” views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the United States, with diplomats instructed to look for “indications of hostility towards citizens, culture or founding principles of United States” in someone’s online presence.
Diplomats must flag any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence”.
New social media vetting measures for international students applying to study in the US even include a requirement for individuals to unlock their social media profiles for review before receiving educational and exchange visas.
Expanding such social media vetting to encompass commentary on an event such as Kirk’s death would be a significant expansion of the administration’s efforts to restrict dissenting views and opinions, particularly of “foreigners” in the US.
Trump, along with other prominent conservatives and Republicans, have been quick to blame “radical left political violence” for Kirk’s killing.
In a speech in the Oval Office, the US president called Kirk the “best of America”, and listed acts of violence that he attributed to the left while omitting violence against Democrats, such as the murder of Melissa Hortman, a prominent Minnesota state lawmaker, and her husband, and the shooting of another Democratic state lawmaker and his wife in June.
Meanwhile, MSNBC fired its senior political analyst Matthew Dowd after he suggested on air that Kirk’s own radical rhetoric may have contributed to the circumstances around his assassination. Kirk had a history of rightwing provocation and Christian nationalism, and frequently espoused bigoted rhetoric about Islam, women , LGBTQ+ communities and people of color.
