U.S. Freezes Visas For Palestinian Passport Holders Amid Mounting National Security Threats

Weeks after the Trump administration paused approvals of visitor visas for people of Gaza, the New York Times now reports that the administration has broadened the suspension to cover nearly all categories of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders.

NYT cited an August 18 State Department cable, sent to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, detailing new sweeping measures that would bar many Palestinians from entering the U.S. on various types of non-immigrant visas. The cable was obtained by the media outlet and confirmed by four anonymous U.S. officials.

Impacted Palestinian visas include medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives, and business travel.

U.S. consular officers have been instructed to invoke Section 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA), a legal provision that allows them to refuse visa applications from Palestinian passport holders temporarily.

„Effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to refuse under 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders using that passport to apply for a non-immigrant visa,” the State Department cable said.

NYT spoke with Kerry Doyle, the former lead attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Biden-Harris regime, who said the Trump administration should be open about its decision-making:

„If it’s a true ban, then it’s concerning to me in that they should be transparent about it and then make their arguments for the basis of such a ban.”

Last month, the State Department halted visitor visas for the roughly two million Palestinians from Gaza. This came shortly after Laura Loomer called incoming flights a „national security threat …”

The national security threat Loomer could be describing appears to come from one of her X posts: „We have been totally infiltrated by Islamic jihadists. The Palestinian movement is a terrorist movement.”

We have been totally infiltrated by Islamic jihadists.

The Palestinian movement is a terrorist movement. pic.twitter.com/kCr6c2TV2m

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 25, 2025

Perhaps the scrutiny is centered on the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or 'Samidoun,’ a dark-money-funded non-profit that acts as an international fundraising arm for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization, which has been active in North America and linked to efforts ranging from disrupting critical infrastructure to organizing campus protests and riots.

PFLP states in their manifesto about their weird obsession with Marxism and their dream of destroying capitalism across the West.

Late last month, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sounded the alarm about a separate rogue non-profit, Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a leftist activist group closely aligned with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), accusing it of working across university campuses to incite anti-Israel protests and campus chaos.

„PYM’s support of Hamas and ties to terror groups should prevent it from receiving tax-exempt donations. I’m asking the IRS to investigate and remedy this situation,” Cotton wrote on X last month.

Tom Cotton Targets Tax Status Of 'Terrorist-Supporting’ Youth Movement https://t.co/retubA3goC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 27, 2025

We suspect that the Trump administration views the potential influx of Palestinians as a national security threat, given the Marxist revolutionary activities of Samidoun, the PFLP, and other affiliated groups already underway on the Homeland.