Gazan kids gravely injured by weapons made in America were coming to the US temporarily for medical treatment. Then they were sent to Egypt. Laura Loomer called them a "security threat" and had a hissy fit, so no kids allowed in to the US for treatment anymore.
"The Trump administration announced Saturday that it had paused approvals of visitor visas for people from Gaza, a key pathway for those seeking medical care in the United States, including young children who arrived in recent weeks with serious conditions.
The State Department said it would assess the process behind those visas. “All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review,” the department said in a statement on X Saturday morning.
The move came after an intense lobbying campaign by the right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who called the incoming flights a “national security threat” in a flurry of social media posts starting on Friday that targeted a nonprofit aiding in medical evacuations.
Just weeks ago, the nonprofit, HEAL Palestine, an Ohio-based group that helps Palestinian families and children, began orchestrating what it called the “largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the U.S.,” bringing injured and ill Gazan children to the United States for care.
To date, the group says it has evacuated 63 injured children for treatment, including 11, from age 6 to 15, who were flown to hospitals in nine U.S. cities this month. Many of the children had lost limbs during the conflict in Gaza. They are expected to travel to Egypt to rejoin their families once their medical care is completed, according to HEAL Palestine.
The group, which was founded last year and also operates food kitchens in Gaza, said in a statement on Sunday that it was alarmed by the State Department’s decision.
“This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,” HEAL Palestine said in the statement. “Our mission gives children a renewed chance at life, whether through lifesaving surgery or the ability to walk again.”
Julia Gelatt, the associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, said that more than 9,000 people with travel documents from the Palestinian Authority had entered the United States on visitor visas in the 2024 fiscal year.
“This move is consistent with the Trump administration’s overall treatment of immigrants as constituting a threat to U.S. public safety,” Ms. Gelatt said. “But it is extremely hard to imagine how someone coming to the U.S. for lifesaving medical treatment would present a national security risk.”
Ms. Loomer, who wields extraordinary power in shaping Trump administration decisions over personnel and policy despite not having an official role in government, said she first learned of the flights earlier this month.
“I felt like this is something that needs attention,” she said in an interview. “Under the Trump administration, they are actively importing Gazans into the U.S. Clearly this is not what we voted for.”
On social media, Ms. Loomer called attention to a video posted on Aug. 6 by HEAL Palestine, showing Palestinian children arriving at the San Francisco airport.
She subsequently posted about flights to St. Louis, San Antonio and Houston and claimed without evidence that the nonprofit’s work was connected to Hamas, tagging state and federal officials in her posts."