‘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.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 29 to combat anti-Semitism in the United States, particularly on college and university campuses.
The executive order allows students on U.S. visas to be deported if they express views that, for example, support the terrorist group Hamas. The group was behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which was the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
The massacre led to fighting between Israel and Hamas, which has since been halted—at least temporarily—because of a cease-fire implemented earlier this month.
In a fact sheet obtained by The Epoch Times, the White House stated that since the assault in 2023, “pro-Hamas aliens and left-wing radicals began a campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and violence on the campuses and streets of America.”
The Trump administration stated in the fact sheet that these individuals have been “celebrating Hamas’ mass rape, kidnapping, and murder, they physically blocked Jewish Americans from attending college classes, obstructed synagogues and assaulted worshippers, and vandalized American monuments and statues.”
Outside groups both praised and criticized the executive order.
“Many students have felt forced to hide their Jewish identities. No one should be forced to conceal who they are, at their very core,” Sarah Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, told The Epoch Times.
“When one is feeling that he or she is in [a] hostile environment, and are feeling intimidated, bullied, or threatened, simply for walking across the campus or the quad, how can these students be amenable to classroom instruction? We need to offer our Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli students the very same protections as any other minority group in the United States.”
