The United States revoked the visas of at least six foreign citizens whom it accused of celebrating the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, the State Department said in a series of social media posts Tuesday.

Since Kirk was fatally shot last month, U.S. officials have said they were searching for foreigners who had made public comments cheering or joking about his death, called on the public to help identify them and warned they would be barred from the United States.

The State Department’s X account on Tuesday posted screenshots of or excerpts from online comments by six people it said had celebrated Kirk’s death, and said they were no longer welcome in the United States, raising questions about First Amendment protections.

“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” it said. The department was continuing “to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk,” it added.

The New York Times could not independently confirm the people’s identities, nationalities or U.S. visa status. The department’s posts did not include the individuals’ names, or had them redacted. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Kirk, a prominent right-wing political activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was killed last month while speaking to thousands of people at a college in Utah. Trump, who has used the assassination to escalate his effort to stifle political opposition, on Tuesday awarded Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported. You are not welcome in this country.”

Judges have rebuked Rubio for taking similar actions against pro-Palestinian activists and have ordered them freed from detention.

Among the examples the State Department listed Tuesday was an Argentine who “said that Kirk ‘devoted his entire life spreading racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric’ and deserves to burn in hell. Visa revoked.”

Other examples were a German who the department said had written online that “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” and a Brazilian who posted that Kirk “died too late,” it said.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Claire Moses/Anna Watts
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