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FIREstatement on reports of forthcoming executive order on student visas and campus protests
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Thousands pro-Palestinian protesters gather at an encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles on April 29, 2024.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today threatening action against international students in the United States for their involvement in campus protests related to Israel and Hamas.
Per , President Trump promises to 鈥渜uickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,鈥 and to deport students who joined 鈥減ro-jihadist protests.鈥
The revocation of student visas should not be used to punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the federal government. The strength of our nation鈥檚 system of higher education derives from the exchange of the widest range of views, even unpopular or dissenting ones.
FIRE who commit crimes 鈥 including vandalism, threats, or violence 鈥 must face consequences, and those consequences may include the loss of a visa. But if today鈥檚 executive order reaches beyond illegal activity to instead punish students for protest or expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment, it must be withdrawn.
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