Target: Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State
Goal: Do not impede humanitarian visas that enable children and other injured refugees to obtain critical medical aid.
Over 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or seriously injured in the Gaza Strip. With bombing campaigns continuing to burn, dismember, and maim civilians in large numbers and with the slow trickle of aid leading to famine, these numbers are expected to increase. Over 150 injured Gazans have received medical aid in the United States, nearly half of whom were children. But thanks to the rantings of a conspiracy theorist who appears to hold more sway in Washington than most elected leaders, this essential aid has come to an abrupt halt.
The injured were granted medical-humanitarian visas so they could receive treatment. They were connected with American healthcare via an international aid organization that has assisted people from this region of the world for months. But the sight of hurt young children arriving for desperately needed treatment was apparently too much for social media influencer Laura Loomer, who posted a message accusing – with no evidence – the arrivals of having terrorist links and of being “national security threats.” She then took aim at the Trump administration for breaking its “promise” not to let any Gaza refugees into the country, even to get medical care they could not otherwise receive in a warzone.
The Trump administration, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, promptly responded by ceasing all medical-humanitarian visas to Gaza citizens, effectively ending the prospect of life-saving aid for the most severely injured. Sign the petition below to demand the state department start valuing human life over the ramblings of unelected, hate-fueled “influencers.”
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Rubio,
“This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program.” It shouldn’t have had to be said, but this affirmation from an American humanitarian nonprofit organization was apparently needed. Why is the word of a social media influencer who has a troubled relationship at best with the truth more important than the word of volunteers and aid workers who have saved lives? And why is said influencer dictating the actions of the state department…actions that will compound and accelerate a devastating loss of life – disproportionately young life?
Either provide evidence that the children from Gaza being granted humanitarian-medical visas are a “national security threat” or take back control of your department and do the right thing…the humane thing. Give these people devastated by relentless war and famine a chance at life, and do not stand in the way of the help they urgently need.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Ashraf Amra
