US President Donald Trump signed a decree on Wednesday to combat anti-Semitism and is committed to expeling non-citizen and others who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
An information sheet on the ordinance promises “immediate action” by the United States Ministry of Justice to continue “terrorist threats, criminal fire, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and all the resources Federal to fight against what she called “the explosion of anti -Semitism on our campuses and streets” since October 7, 2023, attack Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
“For all resident foreigners who joined the pro-jihadist demonstrations, we have noted you: come 2025, we will find you and we will expel you,” said Trump in the information sheet.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on university campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” said the president, echoing a campaign promise in 2024.
The expert says that the order would be unconstitutional
Rights defense groups and lawyers have declared that the new measure would violate the rights of freedom of constitutional expression and would likely arouse judicial disputes.
“The first amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens who study in American universities,” said Carrie Decell, principal lawyer for Knight First Amendment staff at Columbia University. “The deportation of non-citizens on the basis of their political discourse would be unconstitutional.”
The American-Islamic Relations Council, a large defense group for Muslim defenders, said that it was planning to challenge the order before the court if Trump tried to implement it.
Hamas’ attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on the Palestinian coastal enclave in Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have turned American university campuses. Civil rights groups have documented an increase in hate crimes and incidents directed against Jews, Muslims, Arabs and other people of origin in the Middle East.
The ordinance requires that the leaders of the agency and the department make recommendations to the White House within 60 days on all the criminal and civil authorities which could be used to combat anti -Semitism, according to the information sheet.
He calls an inventory and an analysis of all judicial cases involving schools, colleges and universities and alleged violations of civil rights associated with pro-Palestinian demonstrations, potentially leading to actions aimed at removing “students and extraterrestrial staff” .
Many pro-Palestinian demonstrators have denied supporting Hamas or engaging in anti-Semitic acts, saying that they demonstrated against the military aggression of Israel against Gaza, where health authorities say that more than 47,000 people have been killed.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, a non -support group of civil rights, said that the group was deeply disturbed by the apparent confusion of Israel’s criticism with alleged anti -Semitism. Berry said the order would have a scary effect on freedom of expression through the United States
