Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau threatened Thursday to deport noncitizens that don’t demonstrate the requisite amount of sadness and sobriety about Charlie Kirk’s death.
“In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau wrote on X. “I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action.”
He also asked to be notified of any such “comments by foreigners” so that the State Department could “keep Americans safe.” In a separate post, the secretary said people should reply to his post with examples, and he’d “direct consular officials to monitor the comments to this post.”
Beneath Landau’s post, users on X submitted posts they’d seen making jokes about Kirk’s death. Each time, the secretary responded with an image of the Department of State seal, captioned with “El Quitavisas,” which roughly translates to “The Visa Revoker.”
Disturbingly, some of the posts Landau responded to didn’t include jokes. One post sent to Landau was of a news group describing Kirk as an “extremist,” which he was. Apparently, accurately describing a public figure’s political statements is now a privilege reserved only for American citizens.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s death Wednesday, some Republican lawmakers have begun a push for censorship online. Right-wing influencers such as Libs of TikTok and Laura Loomer have launched sweeping campaigns to dox and intimidate anyone whose characterization of Kirk doesn’t match their own.
Landau’s threat represents the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to strip noncitizens of First Amendment protections that began with the government’s vicious crackdown on foreign students pro-Palestinian speech.
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