Katya Yindra
On January 29, President Trump signed an executive order escalating state repression against the Palestine solidarity movement under the guise of combating antisemitism. The order revives and strengthens Trump’s 2019 Executive Order 13899, which encouraged universities to suppress pro-Palestine activism by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Now, as the movement has since grown in strength, Trump is doubling down on student resistance while increasingly concentrating power around the executive branch.
Key provisions of the order include the revocation of student visas and the deportation of international students engaged in Palestine solidarity activism. Trump previously declared: “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. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.” The order grants broad discretionary power under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3), which allows for the deportation of individuals suspected of engaging in “terrorist” activities—even without evidence or due process. This mirrors post-9/11 policies like NSEERS, which targeted Arabs and South Asians under the guise of national security while taking aim against solidarity with international resistance movements.
Beyond targeting individual students, the order mandates federal oversight of universities. It directs the Department of Education and Department of Justice to track campus protests and investigate what the White House fact sheet labels “leftist, anti-American” universities, especially targeting solidarity with the Palestinian armed resistance led by Hamas. “Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” the administration declared. By framing pro-Palestine activism as criminal, the order provides a legal basis for universities to surveil, discipline, and expel student activists while promoting the use of state repression against organizing on campus.
Trump’s order escalates what has always been a bipartisan project of repression. Under Biden, student activists were met with state violence and threats of deportation, as seen in the case of Momodou Taal, a Cornell graduate student who faced deportation for protesting weapons manufacturers tied to the Zionist genocide in Gaza. Trump is picking up where the Biden administration left off, increasing the concentration of power around the executive branch while further limiting what remains of the farce of democratic freedoms.
Photo: Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University during the student campus occupations in spring 2024.
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