Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
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Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.

A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"To all the resident aliens who joined in the protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.

"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 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses, with civil rights groups documenting rising antisemitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents.

The order will require agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism, and would demand "the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws."

The fact sheet said protesters engaged in pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, blocked Jewish students from attending classes and assaulted worshippers at synagogues, as well as vandalizing US monuments and statues.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic acts, and said they were demonstrating against Israel's military assault on Gaza, where health authorities say more than 47,000 people have been killed.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a large Muslim advocacy group, accused the Trump administration of an assault on "free speech and Palestinian humanity under the guise of combating antisemitism," and described Wednesday's order as "dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable."

During his 2024 election campaign, Trump promised to deport those he called "pro-Hamas" students in the United States on visas.

On his first day in office, he signed an executive order that rights groups say lays the groundwork for the reinstatement of a ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim or Arab countries, and offers wider authorities to use ideological exclusion to deny visa requests and remove individuals already in the country.



Netanyahu Says ‘We Can Finish the Job’ against Iran after Meeting Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Says ‘We Can Finish the Job’ against Iran after Meeting Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions and its "aggression" in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Speaking after meeting Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said they had held a "very productive discussion" on a number of issues, "none more important than Iran".

"Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran," he said. "We agreed that the mullahs must not have nuclear weapons and also agreed that Iran's aggression in the region must be rolled back."

Rubio said: "Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people that call this region home is Iran."

Israeli-Iranian enmity stretches back decades through a history of clandestine wars and attacks by land, sea, air and cyberspace.

Iran, which says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, has also backed armed groups across the Middle East that describe themselves as the "Axis of Resistance" to Israel and US influence in the region.

The Axis includes not only Hamas, the Palestinian group that ignited the Gaza war by attacking Israel in October 2023, but also the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Houthi militias in Yemen, various Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.

Over the 16 months since the Gaza war erupted, Israel has assassinated top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel and Iran have exchanged limited retaliatory attacks.

Netanyahu said Israel had dealt a "mighty blow" to Iran since the start of the war in Gaza and said that with the support of US President Donald Trump "I have no doubt we can and will finish the job".

Thanking Rubio for "unequivocal backing" for Israel's policy in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel and the United States under Trump shared a common strategy in the Palestinian enclave, where a fragile ceasefire is in effect.

"I want to assure everyone who's now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us," he said.