US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at combating antisemitism, with a focus on college campuses.
The order promises “immediate action” from the Justice Department to prosecute threats, vandalism, and violence against American Jews, which have reportedly surged since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas.
Trump warned that non-citizen college students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests will face deportation, Reuters reports.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” he stated.
The president also vowed to cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, citing a rise in radicalism.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” the president said, echoing a 2024 campaign promise.
The executive order has sparked mixed reactions. Some Jewish students have welcomed the move, saying they’ve experienced harassment and intimidation on campus.
However, civil rights groups have raised concerns that the order could infringe on free speech and target certain groups unfairly.
Rights groups and legal scholars said the new measure would violate constitutional free speech rights and would likely draw legal challenges, according Reuters.
“The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities,” said Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
“Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a large Muslim advocacy group, said it would consider challenging the order in court if Trump tried to implement it.
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled U.S. college campuses.
Civil rights groups documented a surge in hate crimes and incidents directed at Jews, Muslims, Arabs and other people of Middle Eastern descent.
The order requires agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism, according to the fact sheets.
It calls for an inventory and analysis of all court cases involving K-12 schools, colleges and universities and alleged civil rights violations associated with pro-Palestinian campus protests, potentially leading to actions to remove “alien students and staff.”
Many pro-Palestinian protesters denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic acts, saying they were demonstrating against Israel’s military assault on Gaza, where health authorities say more than 47,000 people have been killed.