Laura Loomer continues to prove she wields a scary amount of power inside the Trump administration. <\/span>Tom Williams\/CQ\/ZUMA<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Laura Loomer, the<\/span> far-right provocateur and conspiracy theorist who has\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0herself as a \u201cproud Islamophobe,\u201d has proven to have particular sway with President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n The latest example came on Saturday, when the State Department halted all<\/a> visitor visas to people from Gaza, including humanitarian medical visas for injured children. The announcement followed Loomer\u2019s days-long posting spree, in which she baselessly alleged that Palestinian kids and their families arriving in the US for medical care were \u201ca national security risk<\/a>,\u201d and that nonprofit organizations that facilitate their treatment in the US support Hamas. \u201cThey are not that sick if they can sit on a plane for 22 hours,\u201d Loomer wrote.<\/p>\n Loomer posted videos of Palestinians arriving in the US this month via a group called Heal Palestine, a nonprofit organization<\/a> founded last year that has brought injured children to the US for treatment. One of the videos, which Loomer claimed<\/a> showed Palestinians arriving in Texas, shows a family arriving at the airport to cheers, with a teen boy on crutches who has one leg amputated below the knee. In another post, she claimed<\/a>, without evidence, that Palestinian children who arrived in Texas\u2014many of whom had lost limbs\u2014and their families were \u201cdoing jihadi chants.\u201d She posted<\/a> that whoever approved the Palestinians\u2019 visas at the State Department \u201cshould be fired,\u201d and that Heal Palestine should be investigated.<\/p>\n The latest move comes as Israel\u2019s aid blockade has caused widespread starvation in Gaza<\/a>, with at least 100 children recently dying of hunger and malnutrition, according to<\/a> Save the Children. Doctors have<\/a> attested to evidence<\/a> that the Israeli military may be deliberately targeting children in Gaza, with more than 40,000 reportedly killed or injured in the war, according to<\/a> UNICEF. Earlier this year, UNICEF said<\/a> the Gaza Strip had the highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n A Reuters analysis of State Department data found that the US issued 3,800 visitor visas permitting medical treatment to people with travel documents from the Palestinian Authority so far this year. Heal Palestine told<\/a> the New York Times<\/em> that it has evacuated 63 injured kids for treatment to the US, including 11 who were flown to hospitals in nine American cities this month.<\/p>\n In a statement Sunday, Heal Palestine said<\/a> it was \u201cdistressed\u201d by the State Department\u2019s decision, and that it is \u201ca medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program.\u201d The organization\u2019s founder, Steve Sosebee, shared<\/a> a photo with two child amputees, one of whom also lost his parents in a bombing, who Heal Palestine relocated to the US for medical treatment. \u201cWhere is our humanity in denying children like this access to medical care?\u201d Sosebee wrote. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025_08_17_gazakids-1-e1755462225167.jpg\")