KEY POINTS
- Trump to order deportation of foreign students who support groups designated as terrorists.
- The order applies to non-American students and others who participated in pro-Palestinian rallies.
- The directive recommends tougher restrictions on nationals from certain countries.
- Advocacy groups warn that the order could lead to a crackdown on free speech and legal immigration.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to deport non-American university students and other foreign nationals who participated in pro-Palestinian protests and those “sympathizing with Hamas,” a White House official said.
A fact sheet on the order said Trump would order the Justice Department to “aggressively prosecute threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews.”
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-Hamas protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in the fact sheet as quoted by Reuters news agency.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
President Trump signed an executive order during his first week back in office that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to deport foreign nationals, including students, who express support for groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US government.
Participation in pro-Palestinian rallies
The order is titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,”.
Under the new directive, DHS can actively remove individuals from the country, who meet the criteria of supporting terrorism unless doing so would compromise national security or ongoing investigations.
The order’s provisions have raised concerns for foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian rallies held on college campuses in the wake of the Israeli bombardment campaign in Gaza that killed over 47,000 Palestinians.
Civil rights advocates in the United States are raising the alarm over a directive signed by President Trump that laid the groundwork for another travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries.
The executive order, released on January 20, may also be used to target foreign nationals who are already in the US legally and crackdown on international students who advocate for Palestinian rights, experts said.
Foreign citizens with hostile attitude
Deepa Alagesan, a lawyer at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), an advocacy group, said the new order is “bigger and worse” than the “xenophobic” travel ban that Trump imposed on several Muslim-majority countries in 2017 during his first term.
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The new order directs administration officials to compile a list of nations “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries”.
Trump’s executive order also said the administration must ensure that foreign citizens, including those in the US, “do not bear hostile attitudes” towards American citizens, culture or government and “do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists”.
The executive order mandates a review of how the US issues visas. A report outlining recommendations for stricter visa restrictions from specific countries deemed to pose security risks will be presented to the president within 60 days.
Controversy surrounding the executive action
Civil rights groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have voiced concerns about the executive order’s potential to infringe on free speech.
The organization issued a statement arguing that the executive order “threatens an unprecedented crackdown on free speech and legal immigration” by applying “vague, subjective, and unenforceable” criteria. The move has sparked debate over the balance between national security and individual rights.
