WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump signed executive orders in January targeting foreigners who espoused hateful ideology and antisemitism, specifically international students involved in university pro-Palestinian protests.
For activist groups ranging from Mothers Against College Antisemitism and the Chicago Jewish Alliance to the U.S. wings of Zionist organization Betar and the Shirion Collective surveillance network, the orders provided what they said was a long-awaited tool to help quash antisemitism on college campuses.
“If students are here on visas and they are harassing our kids, they should definitely be deported,” MACA founder Elizabeth Rand said on Facebook on February 7, after posting a link to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line on January 21.
Betar, labelled an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League Jewish advocacy group, went further, saying it provided names of international students and faculty to the Trump administration for deportation. Betar did not provide evidence of such a list, but spokesperson Daniel Levy said of the promised deportations, “We are pleased this process has now begun.”
The U.S. Departments of Justice, State and Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
The orders have not yet had the impact of Trump’s first-term travel ban when nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries were barred from the U.S., sparking chaos at airports before a federal court ruled it unconstitutional.
But civil rights lawyers said the orders may violate constitutional rights to free speech, while Arab American groups have said they are prepared to challenge the policy in court. The executive orders and response to them showed a willingness among some Jewish activists to work with the Trump administration on a common cause. A few MACA members, however, said they were leaving the group as reporting on foreigners smacked of informing on Jews during World War Two, according to Facebook posts.
Major Jewish American advocacy groups such as the ADL and American Jewish Committee welcomed Trump’s orders, but stopped short of asking people to report foreign students to the government.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to 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. Online, Jewish American and pro-Israel groups doxed American and foreign students and faculty they accused of supporting Hamas, publishing their photos and personal information. Several pro-Palestinian groups used similar tactics to call out Israel’s defenders.
Agencies