One of the longest-serving Republicans in the U.S. Senate is in the crosshairs of MAGA supporters after he publicly questioned the Trump administration’s rationale for revoking the visas of several college students in his state.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who served in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2015 before rising to his current office, expressed his concern during a local TV interview where he said officials could not find “any” disciplinary report on at least one Oklahoma student who was notified that their visa had been canceled by the State Department.
“Some of them, we understand, there were some discipline problems on campus,” he said. “But there’s a couple students – I won’t name the school right now – but there’s a student that we can’t find any discipline problem that was an issue.”
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have previously called for visas to be revoked from students who express “pro-terrorist” sympathies, either through protests or op-eds, as in the case of graduate students at Columbia and Tufts universities who were recently apprehended by immigration authorities and lodged for deportation.
“We’re asking the State Department to say, ‘Hey, help us understand this particular visa,’” Lankford went on. “I do understand if a student’s here they’ve gotta follow American law, they can’t challenge American way of life, they’re our guests. But we want to make sure [when] they’re our guest we’re also treating them fairly in the process.”
Lankford’s sympathy for progressive international students provoked ridicule by Catturd, a prominent MAGA influencer.
“Primary this clown,” they wrote while sharing a clip of the Republican’s remarks on X.
Others were even less forgiving.
“Oklahoman here and he’s the worst,” another user added.
One viewer recalled that Lankford was among the bipartisan group of six senators who, in 2024, backed legislation to reform the nation’s immigration processes. The bill ultimately died after then-candidate Trump opposed it, and progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined most Republicans in voting it down.
The bill “would have guaranteed 1.8 million illegal aliens could invade the nation before action would be taken. Who is this guy working for?” they asked.
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Lankford was last reelected in 2022, securing over 67% in the Republican primary while refusing to debate his two lesser-known rivals. His general election in the crimson-red state was even more lopsided.
Still, the polarization of red and blue states makes lawmakers increasingly concerned about the likelihood of losing their livelihoods to more conservative or liberal challengers. Some of the most recognizable Republicans of the past generation, including former congressmen Liz Cheney and former sitting majority leader Eric Cantor, lost their seats in their primary elections.
Neither has President Trump been shy about calling out members of his own party who undermine him through words or deeds. After Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) recently declined multiple times to support his “big, beautiful” spending bill, Trump sent out a call on Truth Social for Kentuckians to find a primary challenger to run against the libertarian lawmaker.
