US halts visitor visas for Gazans, including humanitarian medical visas

The Trump administration announced Saturday that it was halting visitor visas for people from Gaza, including those used for children to receive urgen...

The Trump administration announced Saturday that it was halting visitor visas for people from Gaza, including those used for children to receive urgent medical treatment in the United States.

The State Department said in a statement posted on X that it was stopping all visitor visas while it conducts "a full and thorough review of the process and procedures” used to approve "a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.”

The department did not immediately respond to questions on how long its review is expected to take or how many visitor visas it has issued recently.

The move comes after far-right activist Laura Loomer criticized the visa program in recent days, describing it as a "national security threat” in a social media post.

On Friday, Loomer shared a video posted by nonprofit aid organization HEAL Palestine of a cheering crowd welcoming children from Gaza with flowers and balloons at an airport in San Francisco, in a post demanding the firing of the State Department officials who approved the visas.