A top State Department official has issued a stark warning for visa applicants: posting about Charlie Kirk’s death on social media could endanger your legal status.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote in a Thursday morning X post that he had directed the department’s consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” after encountering social media posts “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” Kirk’s death. Consular officials are responsible for reviewing visa applications from foreign nationals.
The fiery post came less than 24 hours after Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during a speaking engagement in Utah on Wednesday.
“I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” wrote Landau. He also encouraged followers to send him posts by “such foreigners” to “protect the American people.”
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. I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light…
— Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) September 11, 2025
In a reply to his original tweet, Landau instructed X users to tag him in posts that fit his description so that he could forward the posts to consular officials.
Landau has since begun replying to these posts with a graphic depicting a bat symbol that bears the state department logo, alongside the words “El Quitavisas,” or, roughly, “The Visa Takers.”
The deputy secretary made his warning more explicit in another reply. Responding to an X user who alerted him to a post joking about Kirk’s shooting, Landau wrote, “If someone knows the witch’s name, we’ll revoke her visa. Immediately. Though I doubt she has a visa.”
Si alguien conoce el nombre de la bruja, le quitamos la visa. De inmediato. Aunque dudo que tenga visa. pic.twitter.com/8KRf2AQQES
— Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) September 11, 2025
When asked for comment, a State Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast, “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.”
Landau’s tweet comes just three weeks after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Department announced it would review the social media accounts of all 55 million US visa holders to vet for “anti-American activity.”
In June, Politico obtained a State Department memo instructing immigration officials to search student visa applicants’ social media accounts for posts that reflected “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security,” or “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”
The department had previously hit pause on new student visa applications while reconfiguring its social media vetting policy.
At the same time, another memo directed officials to vet applicants’ accounts for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.”
The news of Kirk’s death received bipartisan sympathy. President Trump has vowed to posthumously award Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, while JD Vance called Kirk a “true friend.”
Meanwhile, House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez canceled a planned rally out of respect for Kirk and security concerns. She also called his death part of the “scourge of gun violence and political violence.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had welcomed Kirk as a guest on his podcast, wrote on X, “The best way to honor Charlie’s memory is to continue his work: engage with each other, across ideology, through spirited discourse.”
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