Trump Threatens to Deport International Students Who Protested Israel-Hamas War
Credit: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images- President Donald Trump signed an executive order he said addresses antisemitism, especially on college campuses.
- In a fact sheet on the executive order, Trump threatens to deport international students for engaging in the protests, which swept across college campuses in the 2023-24 academic year.
- Free speech advocates, and even U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), acknowledge that deporting international students based on their speech violates the First Amendment.
An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday addressing antisemitism directs federal agencies to prosecute and revoke visas for international students found to be “Hamas sympathizers.”
A White House fact sheet on the order promises to “marshal all federal resources to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023.” It suggests that protesting the war in Gaza puts international students at risk of deportation — a move free speech advocates say could violate the First Amendment.
“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,” the fact sheet says. “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 order reacts to what Trump calls an “unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence” in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. It says Jewish students have been denied access to campus common areas and facilities, intimidated, and harassed on campus.
Protests denouncing Israel’s response to Oct. 7 proliferated across campuses nationwide during the 2023-2024 academic year. The spring term was tumultuous, with students at more than 100 colleges across the U.S. establishing protest encampments to demand their schools divest from companies supporting Israel.
Many pro-Palestinian supporters and advocacy groups have repeatedly denied that they support Hamas. Instead, they assert they are protesting the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza, which has killed over 46,600 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health authorities.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called the executive order a “dishonest, overbroad, and unenforceable attack on both free speech and the humanity of Palestinians.”
The Anti-Defamation League said it “welcomed” the executive order and hopes that “holding perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” including revoking visas, would make a “significant difference in the campus environment.”
However, they cautioned that “any immigration-related ramifications … should not be used to target individuals for their constitutionally protected speech.”
First Amendment Concerns
Shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, then-candidate Trump promised that his second administration would “revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities.”
However, it may not be constitutional.
Noncitizens in the U.S. — including students on a visa — are protected by the First Amendment and enjoy free speech protections.
“Selectively enforcing immigration laws to punish political speech violates the First Amendment,” Ben Wizner, interim director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Democracy, said in a statement to BestColleges.
“…The universities have a responsibility to ensure all students can thrive in environments free of harassment and intimidation, but Trump’s order and accompanying fact sheet are intended to silence viewpoints the president disagrees with and will have a serious chilling effect across the country.”
Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar for global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said in a statement to BestColleges that the executive order “threatens to weaken” freedom of expression in higher education.
“The White House fact sheet goes far beyond criminal grounds for deportation and openly promises viewpoint-motivated deportations for speech the administration deems sympathetic to Hamas. That President Trump may expect agencies to interpret his orders in this manner should worry all Americans, regardless of their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said.
“…International students will understandably worry that their words are under surveillance, and that they are not able to equally participate in campus discourse with their peers.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has previously acknowledged the constitutional limits on removing individuals based on their speech, beliefs, or associations.
In memos obtained by the Knight First Amendment Institute in 2023, the law enforcement agency recognized that noncitizens have due process rights and “can invoke protections under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause.”