DHS orders officers to focus on overstayed visas
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered the staff of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to focus on overstayed visas, according to a Wednesday press release from USCIS.
Over the weekend, an attack occurred on demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., pressing for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza. The suspect in the attack, Mohamed Soliman, was said by the White House to be an “illegal alien” who overstayed a visa.
The USCIS press release noted the attack and Soliman, saying he “had overstayed his visa in the U.S. and remained in the country unlawfully since 2022.”
“There is NO room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers. Anyone who thinks they can come to America and advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the release.
“You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.
Soliman was charged with a federal hate crime in the wake of admitting he had spent a year planning the attack and singled out the demonstrators, who he called “Zionists,” according to the FBI.
“FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado following what appears to be a horrific anti-Semitic attack. My heart and my prayers are with the Jewish community,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X on Monday.
“We will not tolerate this hatred and we will put the perpetrator of this violence behind bars,” she added.