International students involved in pro-Palestine protests could be deported under new executive order

Jan. 30, 2025, 10:37 p.m.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that plans to “deport Hamas’ sympathizers” and “revoke student visas,” according to a White House fact sheet published Thursday. 

The executive order, aimed at combatting anti-semitism, calls upon institutions to “monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds” and “if warranted, to remove such aliens.” 

This order comes on the heels of significant pro-Palestine activism at college campuses across the nation, including a 120-day encampment in White Plaza and the occupation of Building 10, which houses the president’s office, during the 2023-24 school year. 

Political science Professor Bruce Cain wrote to The Daily that international students are “very vulnerable” in this situation. 

“[The order] sounds like one of his ideas that has no constitutional basis unless he means people from other countries who are here on student visas,” Cain wrote.

During the 2023-24 academic year, over 4,000 Stanford students were international, making up 9% of the total undergraduate population and 35% of graduate students, a slight rise from the previous academic year. J-1 and F-1 student visas grant constitutional rights and entrance into the country if “enrolled in a program or course of study that culminates in a degree, diploma, or certificate,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Typically, student visas are only revoked in the case of a criminal offense, a failure to meet academic requirements or a violation of the employment regulations.

The Trump administration is calling for “immediate action” from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews.” The order would demand “the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws” and require agency and department leaders to provide in a report recommendations for familiarizing higher education institutions with the grounds of inadmissibility so that Universities can “monitor and report” relevant activities.  

The Daily has reached out to the University for comment.

“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,”  the fact sheet read.

The order also calls for the DOJ to investigate activists, including those on private college campuses, who graffitied “pro-Hamas” messages.

The Daily has reached out to Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine for comment.

Sterling Davies '28 writes for News and Sports. Contact news 'at' stanforddaily.com

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