Trump Administration Uses Plan to Link Pro-Palestine Supporters to Hamas and Revoke Their Visas
Foreign students face visa cancellations and possible deportation under a Trump-era executive order linking Palestine support to terrorism laws.
Watan-A report by Rebecca Falconer and Russell Contreras revealed that the Trump administration has escalated its crackdown on pro-Palestinian supporters on U.S. university campuses, attempting to link support for Palestine to backing Hamas. This is being done through the application of immigration and anti-terrorism laws to deport foreign students and revoke their visas.
According to the report, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that his department is reviewing the “visa status” of pro-Palestinian supporters who participated in the occupation of Columbia University’s main library on Wednesday night.
Rubio’s statement is grounded in an executive order signed by Trump titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” which aims to deport international students who join such demonstrations and instruct institutions to monitor and report on foreign students and staff activities.
Rubio and Trump Target Pro-Palestine Students with Visa Threats and Funding Cuts
These actions coincide with a review being conducted by the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism at the University of Washington, following a pro-Palestine protest on Monday where 30 students were arrested for occupying a campus building in Seattle.
Back in March, Trump pledged to halt federal funding to schools, colleges, and universities that allow “illegal demonstrations.” The White House also announced that the president intends to deport those “sympathetic to Hamas” and revoke student visas.
These moves reflect the administration’s intent to strictly enforce Trump’s executive order and aggressively pursue university students. Rubio posted on X:
“We are reviewing the visas of the trespassers and vandals involved in the takeover of Columbia University. Hamas thugs are not welcome in our great nation.”
A Jewish group that participated in the protest told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that they feared the weaponization of antisemitism, insisting their actions were driven by religious conviction.
The report adds that Rubio’s legal basis includes a rarely used principle in U.S. law that allows deportation of legal residents based on their pro-Palestinian speech.
Columbia students were among the first to establish protest encampments on U.S. campuses in opposition to Israeli violations against Palestinians during the ongoing war.
The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to classify pro-Palestinian activism as sympathy for Hamas, thereby enabling the use of counterterrorism and immigration laws to suppress demonstrations—especially under the framework of Project 2025, particularly through its “Easter Program.”
This has already manifested in a White House move to detain Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil and block the university from receiving $400 million in federal aid.
Project 2025 was developed by the Heritage Foundation, aiming to fight what it calls antisemitism. The Trump administration has adopted many of its key provisions.
