In concurrence with President Donald Trump posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, presenting the medal to Kirk’s widow at the White House, the U.S. Department of State announced on social media: “The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans. The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
The State Department provided a thread featuring examples “of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.”
The State Department added: “@POTUS and @SecRubio will defend our borders, our culture, and our citizens by enforcing our immigration laws. Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed.”
Some Americans objected to the State Department’s actions, including America 2.0 publisher and editor Dave Troy who wrote: “Nothing says ‘beacon of free speech’ like a goon squad of brownshirts trawling through social media posts to map online aliases to visas looking for cases of wrongthink. What a failed, disgraced country we have become.”
Conservative lawyer and influencer Gregg Nunziata, former general counsel for Rubio and current Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law, wrote: “Making visas conditional on speech is a bad look for our country and ultimately harmful to the national interest.”
Making visas conditional on speech is a bad look for our country and ultimately harmful to the national interest https://t.co/3ezgIzQpQ9
— Gregg Nunziata (@greggnunziata) October 14, 2025
Immigration lawyer Eric Lee, president and executive director of a legal defense organization called Consular Accountability Project, replied with a public call: “If your visa was denied or revoked due to Charlie Kirk-related speech, the Consular Accountability Project (@ConsularActProj) is interested in representing you pro bono.”
If your visa was denied or revoked due to Charlie Kirk-related speech, the Consular Accountability Project (@ConsularActProj) is interested in representing you pro bono. https://t.co/1bvkOwDLu5
— Eric Lee (@EricLeeAtty) October 15, 2025
Note: Lee served as lead counsel in Department of State v. Muñoz and argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2024. Sandra Muñoz, an American citizen, sued the State Department after her husband Luis Asencio-Cordero, a citizen of El Salvador, was denied a visa application with little explanation. The Court held that a “citizen does not have a fundamental liberty interest in her noncitizen spouse being admitted to the country.”