State Department Revokes Visas Over Charlie Kirk Comments
The agency says the U.S. ‘has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans’
Updated Oct. 14, 2025 The Wall Street Journal
The department stated it is not obligated to host foreigners who express wishes of death upon Americans.
- The State Department revoked visas of at least six individuals due to their comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s death.
The State Department said it has revoked the visas of at least six people for their comments on the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The agency revoked visas from nationals of countries including Argentina, South Africa and Mexico, the department said in a social-media post Tuesday. The department didn’t say if the people were in the country at the time their visas were revoked and didn’t specify what kinds of visas they held or when the visas were revoked.
In one screenshot shared by the agency, a person identified as an Argentine national said Kirk “devoted his entire life spreading racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric.” A German national wrote “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” according to the post.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the department said.
The killing of Kirk on a college campus in Utah last month heightened concerns over violence targeting public figures. The 31-year-old founded Turning Point USA, an organization that encourages free speech and political discourse. Kirk traveled to college campuses across the country to challenge liberal orthodoxy in often-viral debates with students.
A suspect, Tyler Robinson, was arrested after a dayslong manhunt and later charged with murder.
Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, said the day after Kirk’s death that he had directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” after seeing social-media posts that glorified violence.
“Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the @StateDept can protect the American people,” Landau said in a post on social media.
Days later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said visa revocations were under way.
“If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported,” Rubio said.
Kirk was honored on Tuesday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. His widow, Erika Kirk, accepted the medal on his behalf.
Write to Victoria Albert at victoria.albert@wsj.com
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Appeared in the October 15, 2025, print edition as 'Visas Revoked Over Comments'.
The State Department revoked visas of at least six individuals due to their comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s death.
Nationals from Argentina, South Africa, and Mexico were among those whose visas were revoked.