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The Trump administration and GOP officials have seized upon the murder of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk to attempt to target immigrants and crack down on free speech rights in the U.S.
On September 10, Kirk was fatally shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University. Before any arrests were made, President Donald Trump blamed the “radical left” for Kirk’s killing, vowing to “find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence.”
The day after Kirk’s death, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau put out a call for people to report “foreigners” to the State Department who post on social media “praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event.”
“In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau posted on X on September 11.
“I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action,” he continued. “Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the @StateDept can protect the American people.”
The post is pinned to his page.
That same day, Republican Rep. Clay Higgins (Louisiana) posted on X that he would “use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
He also called for people’s drivers licenses and business permits to be revoked, and for them to be thrown out of school.
“I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” he wrote. “I’m starting that today.”
The lawmaker’s comments come as the Trump administration has increasingly targeted noncitizens based on their social media activity. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will reject visa, green card, and other applications based on “antisemitic activity on social media” — seemingly code for any speech that criticizes Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Palestine. The agency will also be scouring applicants’ social media for “anti-American activity.”
Kirk, a darling of the MAGA movement, packaged himself as a free speech champion. His organization, Turning Point USA, kept a watchlist of supposedly “radical” or “leftist” professors. Kirk frequently made antisemitic and racist statements, and called transgender people “groomers.”
A close Trump ally, Kirk championed the president’s anti-immigrant agenda and promoted the bunk and white supremacist “Great Replacement” theory that so-called global elites — specifically Jews — are plotting to repopulate majority white countries with an “invasion” of nonwhite immigrants.
During a recent segment on his podcast, Kirk said that “Palestinian pro-Hamas people,” “white liberal, purple haired jihadis,” and “La Raza folks with BLM [Black Lives Matter]” “all hate Christendom” and “Western civilization.”
“This is the great replacement theory,” he continued. “They want to replace white Anglo Saxon Christian Protestants with Mexicans, Nicaraguans, with El Salvadorians.”
“You can see the white population collapse in LA, that’s intentional,” he went on, calling for Trump to deploy military troops to LA to crush anti-ICE protests.
Social media is awash in tributes to Kirk from his allies in the far right movement, as well as expressions of condolences from Democratic lawmakers and liberal pundits. In a piece for The New York Times, entitled “Charlie Kirk was Practicing Politics the Right Way,” columnist Ezra Klein wrote wistfully, “Liberalism could use more of his moxie and fearlessness.”
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