Trump Executive Order Paves the Way for Deportation of Foreign Students Who Participate in Pro-Terror Protests

International students enrolled at American universities who participate in pro-terror campus protests could be deported under a new executive order already signed by President Trump. The order, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” includes a key provision that enables the deportation of foreigners, including students, who express support for designated terrorist groups. “The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security,” the document states. The executive order also calls for the country to be “vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.” Mr. Trump, with the executive order, is making good on a campaign promise to expel from the country foreigners who participate in “pro-jihadist” protests on American campuses. “When I am president, we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals,” Mr. Trump said during a New Jersey rally in May. “If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you.” Such a commitment was put into writing in the GOP’s 2024 platform published over the summer. The party pledged, in a list of 20 quick-fix agenda items, to “deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again.” It wont be hard for Mr. Trump’s cabinet to find evidence of anti-Israel student activists openly praising Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are American-designated foreign terror groups. One of the largest student activist networks, Students for Justice in Palestine, is currently being sued for acting as the “propaganda arm” of Hamas “operating in plain sight.” The lawsuit, levied by a group of American and Israeli plaintiffs, including victims of the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, alleges that SJP’s parent group, American Muslims for Palestine, is simply a “reincarnation” of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a now defunct Illinois-based group that funded Hamas. Further, many local chapters of SJP have shared explicitly pro-Hamas rhetoric on social media.Another prominent anti-Israel student group, Jewish Voice for Peace, was recently accused by a pro-Israel advocacy group, StandWithUs, of being tied to terrorist organizations such as the Palestinian prisoner advocacy group, Samidoun. StandWithUs, in its 34-page report, offers evidence of JVP’s advocacy on behalf of Palestinian terrorists, including the secretary general for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Sa’adat, and a PFLP member, Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted of partaking in a 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two young Israelis. In spite of Mr. Trump’s executive order, however, some student activists appear unfazed. On Tuesday, a cohort of students at Columbia kicked off the first day of the spring semester by staging a walkout in support of the “student intifada” during which they handed out fliers with menacing slogans like “The enemy will not see tomorrow,” “Burn Zionism to the ground,” and “Crush Zionism.” They also interrupted a Jewish studies class on modern Israeli history. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce decried the protest as “outrageous” and questioned whether Columbia understood that “failing to combat antisemitism will no longer be tolerated in the Trump administration.” Videos of the protest caught the eyes of Leo Terrell, Mr. Trump’s pick for senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, who warned the board of trustees at Columbia and at any other university “allowing antisemitic behavior to take place” that they should expect a letter from him “in the immediate future.” Columbia responded to the incident by issuing a rare statement condemning the protest. On Wednesday, the university published an even more uncommon follow-up detailing the actions that the administration has already “swiftly taken” to address the incident, including launching a “full investigation” to identify the students involved.

Trump Executive Order Paves the Way for Deportation of Foreign Students Who Participate in Pro-Terror Protests

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