U.S.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One before
arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., January 27, 2025.
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Trump administration to cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters
WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump
will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and
pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part
in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.
A
fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice
Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and
violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to
combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and
streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian
Islamist group Hamas.
"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,"
Trump said in the fact sheet.
"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
Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several
months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled U.S. college campuses,
with civil rights groups documenting rising antisemitic, anti-Arab and
Islamophobic incidents.
The
order will require 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, and would demand
"the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws."
The
fact sheet said protesters engaged in pro-Hamas vandalism and
intimidation, blocked Jewish students from attending classes and
assaulted worshippers at synagogues, as well as vandalizing U.S.
monuments and statues.
Many
pro-Palestinian protesters denied supporting Hamas or engaging in
antisemitic acts, and said they were demonstrating against Israel's
military assault on Gaza, where health authorities say more than 47,000
people have been killed.
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations, a large Muslim advocacy group,
accused the Trump administration of an assault on "free speech and
Palestinian humanity under the guise of combating antisemitism," and
described Wednesday's order as "dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable."
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump promised to deport those he called "pro-Hamas" students in the United States on visas.
On his first day in office, he signed an executive order
that rights groups say lays the groundwork for the reinstatement of a
ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim or Arab countries, and offers
wider authorities to use ideological exclusion to deny visa requests
and remove individuals already in the country.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Daniel Wallis