On January 29, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at combating antisemitism. The order includes a promise to deport international college students and others involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
A fact sheet accompanying the order outlines “immediate action” by the Justice Department to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism, and violence against American Jews.” The order also emphasizes the need to marshal all federal resources to combat the “explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets” since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
In the fact sheet, Trump addressed resident aliens who participated in pro-jihadist protests, warning them that they would be deported by 2025. Additionally, the president reiterated a 2024 campaign promise to quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been plagued by radicalism.
However, rights groups and legal scholars have expressed concerns that the new measure may violate constitutional free speech rights and could lead to legal challenges. Carrie DeCell, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, emphasized that the First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities. DeCell argued that deporting non-citizens based on their political speech would be unconstitutional.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent Muslim advocacy organization, expressed its intention to challenge the order in court if President Trump attempted to implement it.
The Hamas attacks and subsequent Israeli military assault on the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza resulted in several months of pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted college campuses across the United States. Civil rights groups documented a significant rise in hate crimes and incidents directed at Jews, Muslims, Arabs, and individuals of Middle Eastern descent.
The order mandates that agency and department leaders submit recommendations to the White House within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be utilized to combat antisemitism.
Furthermore, the order calls for an inventory and analysis of all court cases involving K-12 schools, colleges, and universities, as well as alleged civil rights violations associated with pro-Palestinian campus protests. This analysis may lead to actions to remove “alien students and staff.”
It is important to note that many pro-Palestinian protesters vehemently denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic actions. They asserted that their demonstrations were a direct response to Israel’s military assault on Gaza, where health authorities report that over 47,000 individuals have lost their lives.
Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute, a nonpartisan civil rights organization, expressed deep concern about the apparent conflation of criticism of Israel with allegations of anti semitism. Berry cautioned that the order could have a chilling effect on free speech across the United States.
