Trump order cracks down on antisemitism and could deport foreign student protesters

An executive order signed Wednesday by President Trump outlines a broad federal crackdown on antisemitism in the U.S., especially on college campuses, and suggests foreign students who take part in prohibited activities like supporting terrorist organizations could be deported.

The order cites "an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism and violence" and states that U.S. policy "shall be" to use "all available and appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence." It also directs all U.S. department and agency heads to come up with new means they could employ to combat antisemitism within 60 days.

The order also suggests that some student protests could be considered a violation of federal law barring individuals from supporting terrorism, and it directs officials to encourage schools to monitor and report any such activities by foreign students so they could be investigated and possibly deported.

Trump's order refers to existing immigration law that authorizes the deportation of a non-citizen who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization." The U.S. government officially considers Hamas a terrorist organization.

The order was welcomed by students who've been reporting an alarming spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas led the attack on Israel that triggered the current war.

Cornell University junior Amanda Silberstein says she has been physically assaulted and harassed online and in person, and feels unsafe on campus. But now, she says she feels some relief that "universities that have turned a blind eye to the harassment and assault of Jewish students can no longer ignore their basic responsibility to protect all students equally."

"No other minority group is expected to tolerate constant threats and intimidation without recourse, yet Jewish students have been treated as the exception," she said. "For far too long, Jew hatred festered under the guise of activism."

But critics immediately denounced the move as an overreach and as unconstitutional.

"The revocation of student visas should not be used to punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the federal government," said Sarah McLaughlin, a senior scholar with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "Students who commit crimes — including vandalism, threats or violence — must face consequences, and those consequences may include the loss of a visa." But McLaughlin said students must not be punished "for protest or expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the executive order an "attempt to smear" the diverse group of student protesters, who "like the college students who once protested segregation, the Vietnam war, and apartheid South Africa […] deserve our country's thanks."

Many campuses do not have a clearly-stated definition of what crosses the line into antisemitism, and many student protesters have complained that their anti-Israel demonstrations have been unfairly conflated with antisemitism.

But many Jewish students reject that notion, saying what they've experienced has clearly veered into the realm of violence and harassment.

"I do think universities should be a place where the First Amendment is sacred and where students can have hard conversations about any issue," says University of Pennsylvania senior Noah Rubin.

However, he says, extremists have made it clear that "they're not here for conversation at all. Many of them have strict policies, actually, not to engage in conversation at all. This is not a First Amendment issue. It's a question of violence and intimidation and harassment."

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