Trump To Sign Order To Cancel Visas of International Students Who Broke Laws in Pro-Palestine Protests

Updated January 30, 2025, at 3:52 a.m.

President Donald Trump promised to sign an executive order Wednesday instructing federal agencies to identify and deport international students who broke laws while participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations.

A document describing the proposed order, first reported by the New York Post, stated that Trump would instruct the Justice Department to investigate antisemitic graffiti and intimidation on college campuses. Federal agencies would be given 60 days to issue recommendations for the White House regarding how to address antisemitism in the U.S.

Trump signed an order later Wednesday asking federal agencies to compile measures to combat complaints of antisemitism on college campuses and to prepare universities to “monitor” international students for criminal or terrorist activity.

“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,” Trump wrote in the memo, according to Reuters.

“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” he added.

The order issued Wednesday afternoon did not directly cancel visas but suggested the White House wants universities to question the visa eligibility of international students and employees who participate in pro-Palestine activism.

Though Columbia University is expected to be a main target, Harvard could be the subject of a potential investigation over antisemitic stickers found near Harvard Hillel that featured a swastika. University Hall and the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard were also vandalized in October.

Similar stickers were found at other public places in the greater Boston area, including at Boston University.

Pro-Palestine protests at Harvard — unlike at other universities — have not resulted in mass arrests. But two graduate students face charges for their involvement in an altercation at a protest at Harvard Business School in October 2023.

A University spokesperson declined to comment on how the order may affect students at Harvard.

The order will be signed alongside a directive to end funding for public schools supporting critical race theory and “other divisive measures in their curriculum,” White House Press Secretary Karoline C. Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News.

Trump’s planned Wednesday action comes in the wake of his Tuesday proposal to halt federal funding for universities and colleges. Before the freeze was blocked by a federal judge until Monday, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 warned University affiliates that the order could force some federally funded research projects to shut down.

The order follows a December report released by House Republicans urging Congress to more strictly enforce Title VI antidiscrimination provisions in combating antisemitism on college campuses.

The Trump administration also rescinded on Jan. 20 guidance from the Department of Homeland Security that prevented immigration raids on college campuses.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.