President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 29 that pledged to cancel student visas and deport non-citizen college students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.
A fact sheet released by the Trump administration declared the new order takes “forceful and unprecedented steps” to combat the “explosion of anti-Semitism” on college campuses.
The sheet promised “immediate action” by the Department of Justice to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews,” including demanding the removal of “resident aliens” — non-citizens — who violate U.S. laws.
Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois’s director of communications and public policy, described the order as having “dubious legality.”
“People who are here on student visas have a First Amendment right to protest and to demonstrate around any issue that they want,” Yohnka said. “Our First Amendment doesn’t apply to just citizens, it applies to persons and people.”
Yohnka noted that the order does not make it clear what would make non-citizen college students deportable. It did not indicate if it would apply to people who commit criminal acts or people who engage in antisemitic acts, he said.
However, Yohnka said the vagueness of the order and the First Amendment issues makes it difficult to enforce the order in any “meaningful way.”
“My first piece of advice for students on any campus is not to let this administration bully them into or coerce them into not participating in First Amendment activities and to continue to make their voices heard about public policy,” Yohnka said. “It’s an important, historic and traditional role that students play. It’s needed now more than ever before.”
A student who participated in the pro-Palestinian encampment last April, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said they thought the order was “horrible” and a clear violation of free speech because it prevents criticism.
International students are an integral part of the Northwestern community, but this order has terrified many of these students — especially if they have been vocal in the past about Palestine, the student said.
“We’ve seen such a large movement of protesters on college campuses and in communities speaking out about Palestine, and President Trump is trying to use the weaker status of foreign students in this country and foreigners to silence them,” the student said.
The student said they would love for the University to try to protect international students to the extent it can.
In a statement to The Daily, NU’s Jewish Voice for Peace condemned the order for suppressing “Palestinian solidarity” on college campuses.
JVP stated that the order “demonizes” students at universities in a “fascist” attempt to deport university students, including members of the Jewish community.
“As Jewish students, we are deeply concerned for the rising antisemitism happening blatantly in the US, and we understand actually ensuring Jewish safety will never involve displacement, deportation and detainment of people whether in the United States or Palestine,” JVP wrote in a statement.
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