Coco Becker
Pro-Palestine protestors gather on the South Lawn on April 29, 2024.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday promising “forceful and unprecedented steps” to investigate international students who participated in on-campus pro-Palestine protests last year and potentially revoke their visas.
The order demands the investigation of any student visa holder who participated in “pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation,” with the possibility of their visa being revoked “if warranted.” The order also encourages the Department of Justice to investigate and punish students, faculty and administrators accused of “anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.” The Daily Texan confirmed international students participated in and were arrested in last April’s pro-Palestine protests.
“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 a fact sheet attached to the order. “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 order gives all government agencies 60 days to review and recommend all civil and criminal actions the government can take against colleges and students who participated in the protests. It also expands upon a 2019 executive order that edits Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to broaden the definition of anti-semitism.
As of publication, it is unclear whether the Department of Justice intends to use the Civil Rights Act to take action against UT or any other university. It is also unknown whether the executive order only targets students arrested or charged for participating in the protests.