WASHINGTON — A large swath of House Democrats is urging the Trump administration to do more to assist Palestinian children impacted by the Israel-Hamas war.

What You Need To Know

  • More than 140 representatives, amounting to about two-thirds of the entire Democratic caucus in the House, signed onto a letter shared by Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling on the State Department to reverse its decision to pause all visitor visas, including those issued for medical aid, for those from Gaza
  • A separate letter to Rubio this week, more than 100 Democrats backed a request, led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, pressing the U.S. to do more to address a lack of humanitarian aid and specifically infant formula in the war-torn territory
  • The State Department announced in a post on X earlier this month, that it was stopping issuing all visitor visas for people from Gaza in order to conduct a “full and thorough review” of the process it used to allow a “small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas," a decision that came after conservative activist Laura Loomer called on anyone approving visas for Palestinians to be fired
  • The letters come as Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News that the president was set to hold a “large” meeting on Wednesday on a “very comprehensive plan” for what comes next in Gaza after the war

More than 140 representatives, amounting to about two-thirds of the entire Democratic caucus in the House, signed onto a letter shared by Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on the State Department to reverse its decision to pause all visitor visas, including those issued for medical aid, for those from the Gaza Strip. 

In a separate letter to Rubio this week, more than 100 Democrats backed a request, led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, pressing the U.S. to do more to address a lack of humanitarian aid and specifically infant formula in the war-torn territory.

The State Department announced in a post on X earlier this month that it was stopping issuing all visitor visas for people from Gaza in order to conduct a “full and thorough review” of the process it used to allow a “small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas.” 

The announcement came one day after conservative activist Laura Loomer, who has been known to have President Donald Trump’s ear at times, posted videos she said were of Palestinians arriving in the U.S., slamming the move and calling on whoever signed off on the visas to be fired. 

”This is a national security threat,” Loomer wrote in her post. “We didn’t vote for more Islamic immigration into the United States.”

In the letter shared by Dingell, the House Democrats argued it is “wrong” to deny children who are “caught in the middle of this horrific conflict” medical care. The group also took issue with the way the policy change was announced, noting it came “via social media and contained no details on what a full and thorough review entails or any evidence of security risks."

”The lack of clarity regarding how long this halt will last is concerning,” the letter reads. 

The Democrats requested a written response from the State Department within 30 days and asked it to provide an explanation as to why it paused issuing the visas, a timeline on how long the review process will take and a commitment to make exceptions to the pause for “urgent medical-humanitarian cases” involving children.

The lawmakers also appeared to address a concern Rubio brought up in an interview with CBS News after the announcement in which he noted “a bunch of adults” are accompanying the children allowed in. 

The secretary went on to say that his department had “multiple congressional offices” reaching out to ask about the process and that some had presented evidence that some organizations involved in acquiring the visas had ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas. 

“And so we're going to reevaluate how those visas are being granted, not just to the children, but how those visas are being granted to the people who are accompanying them, and, by the way, to some of the organizations that are facilitating it,” Rubio said. 

In their letter, the House Democrats argued that any children and accompanying family members coming for medical treatment go through “rigorous vetting” by the Israeli government, which includes an assessment as to “whether they are linked to Hamas.”

The letter led by Pressley and Petterson, meanwhile, pointed to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis released Friday, which officially declared a famine is taking place and argued the lack of food in Gaza means mothers are without proper nutrition to sustain breastfeeding, leaving formula as the only option to feed infants in many cases. 

”We the undersigned stand united in our fundamental American moral values that we must do everything possible to ensure children are not starving and that infants are not denied critical food aid,” the lawmakers wrote. 

The group called on Israel to ensure all crossing points into Gaza “immediately be reopened” for supplies to come and to make sure international aid organizations can move throughout the territory to deliver it.

They noted they believed it is “absolutely necessary to prioritize the safe delivery of the pallets of baby formula, specifically ready-to-feed formula, sitting at the border of Gaza to ensure that we do not lose another newborn or infant to starvation.”

The letters come as Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News that the president was set to hold a “large” meeting on Wednesday on a “very comprehensive plan” for what comes next in Gaza after the war. 

Witkoff added that he believed the war would be “settled” by the end of this year “one way or another.”