The United States on Thursday announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at foreign nationals accused of supporting activities linked to far-left terrorist and aligned groups.Announcing the policy in a post on X, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the measures were aimed at preventing individuals who support or enable political violence from entering the United States.“Today, the state department is imposing new visa restrictions to bar Far-Left Terrorists from entering our country. Foreigners who finance, incite, or aid and abet Far-Left Terrorists are enemies of our civilisation. They are not welcome in the United States,” Rubio said.According to the state department, the move was taken in support of National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 and broader US government efforts to disrupt networks involved in political violence before they escalate into criminal activity.The department said the policy will apply to members of far-left terrorist and aligned groups who have supported or incited acts of terrorism, backed violent criminal activity, participated in economic sabotage, financed or recruited individuals for violent actions, provided logistical support, or helped coordinate networks engaged in violent activities.The restrictions are being implemented under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the US to deny entry to foreign nationals whose presence could have serious adverse foreign policy consequences.The announcement comes after the state department’s ministerial on the resurgence of political terrorism, which brought together representatives from 67 countries, according to a State Department spokesperson.Addressing the ministerial in Washington, Rubio said the primary responsibility of any government was to protect its people and the country.“The most essential duty of the state—the first responsibility, frankly, of any government of any kind—is the protection of its people, is the protection of its country,” Rubio said.He said the United States and its allies had long focused their counterterrorism efforts on traditional threats but argued that political violence by far-left extremist groups had received insufficient attention.“For far too long, however, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left,” Rubio added.Rubio alleged that far-left terrorist groups use violence as a political tool, including intimidation, coordinated campaigns, bombings and other criminal activities aimed at influencing political outcomes.“Far-left terrorist and aligned groups often use sophisticated, organised networks to perpetrate violence as a political tool—seeking to implement an extreme political vision through intimidation and coordinated campaigns of terror,” the state department said in its policy announcement.
