An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to target, among others, foreign nationals who participated in anti-Israel protests that swept throughout the country since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, and which sometimes featured support for the Palestinian terror group.
The Executive Order Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Threats stated that the government must be “vigilant” in issuing visas to foreign nationals and ensure that those approved “do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.”
The order signed by Trump shortly after his inauguration required the US government to ensure that foreign nationals “not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”
Trump campaigned on cracking down on the anti-Israel protests, particularly those on college campuses, but it was not yet clear how exactly he’d go about doing it, given free speech laws in the US.
“When I am president we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals,” Trump said at a rally in May. “If you come from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to our campuses we will immediately deport you. You’ll be out of that school.”
The Republican party also included a commitment to “deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again” on a list of 20 promises made in the party platform adopted at its National Convention in July.
US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, January 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The legality of expelling foreign nationals from the United States for participating in a protest has not yet been tested, but the move would likely be extremely controversial.
It is not clear how many foreign students have been involved in the anti-Israel protests. GOP officials and pro-Israel groups told NBC News last year that they have so far identified only four who were known to have been arrested, expelled, or barred from graduating due to their participation in the demonstrations.
Protests roiled many college campuses, as well as cities and towns, in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, committed mass atrocities and took 251 hostages to the Strip.
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