Trump Cuts Off Medical Visas from Gaza After Laura Loomer Meltdown

The move comes after Loomer, the right-wing provocateur, freaked out over a video of children from Gaza coming to the U.S. for medical care

Laura Loomer arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on September 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. Chris Szagola/AP

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Loomer posted a video Friday showing children from Gaza arriving in San Francisco for treatment, greeted by a cheering crowd. Loomer called the video an “exclusive,” posting it to X with her watermark on it, despite it being posted on Aug. 6 by the nonprofit HEAL Palestine, which provides medical care to Palestinians.

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Loomer messages Rolling Stone on Saturday afternoon: “The MAGA base didn’t vote for more Islamic immigration into the United States. I applaud Secretary of State Marco Rubio for halting the Visas of Gazans from a HAMAS hot zone and look forward to seeing the State Department’s review of the rogue State Department employees who signed off on visas for Gazans who have shown a disrespect for American life as Hamas continues to hold hostages.”

According to NBC Bay Area, Leyan is a 14-year-old who was burned and injured by shrapnel in an explosion at her school. Ghazal, 6, was also hurt in an explosion. Another child who arrived, 8-year-old Anas, was hurt in an explosion that killed his entire family. There were 11 children in total evacuated, the largest medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the U.S.

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Trump previously called Loomer a “free spirit” when the two traveled together last September, and she continues to privately advise him and others in the administration.

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“I’ve visited with some of the children in Houston, [Texas], who have been brought here from Gaza for medical treatment,” human rights lawyer Maria Kari told Rolling Stone in January. “I’m a mother and I don’t know how many diapers you’ve changed. But until this war, I had never seen someone have to change a diaper on a baby — who was just under two years old — who had third-degree burns on the diaper-change area. The sound the baby makes is horrifying. It’s seared into your brain. It haunts you forever. I’ve sat and ate with a girl who had to hold her jaw while we ate because there’s a hole in her jaw and food was falling out while she ate. I’ve sat and painted ceramic dinosaurs with these children — the same things I do with my children — and they’re so beautiful, they’re so cute and resilient. One of them had just buried her baby sister just before she got on a plane to come here.”

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-gaza-laura-loomer-medical-visas-hospital-1235410184/