Trump signs executive order on combatting antisemitism, threatens to deport 'pro-jihadist' foreign students

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order intended to “combat anti-Semitism.”

“It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,” the executive order says.

The order says it “reaffirms Executive Order 13899” signed by Trump in 2019, which the Biden administration “effectively nullified…by failing to give the terms of the order full force and effect throughout the Government.”

The order points to increased discrimination against Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack as the reason to increase governmental focus on the issue, saying that Hamas’ actions “unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.”

Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination,” it says, listing “denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault.”

The order further stipulates that, within 60 days, “the head of each executive department or agency (agency) shall submit a report to the President,” which identifies “all civil and criminal authorities or actions within the jurisdiction of that agency, beyond those already implemented under Executive Order 13899, that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism.”

It also directs “institutions of higher education” to “monitor for and report activities by alien students” that may constitute “grounds for inadmissibility,” after which they may take “actions to remove such aliens.”

While the order is specifically designed to combat antisemitism, it also states that, following Executive Order 13899, the measures are intended to ensure equal protection under America’s civil rights laws, rather than granting special protections for Jews.

“Executive Order 13899 provided interpretive assistance on the enforcement of the Nation’s civil rights laws to ensure that they would protect American Jews to the same extent to which all other American citizens are protected,” the order states.

In a fact sheet about the order, Trump directly warned “pro-Jihadist” international students.

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

Response by Jewish groups has been mixed concerning the new executive order.

“We strongly commend President Trump for expanding upon his historic commitment to protecting the Jewish community by deploying ALL levers of American federal power to combat the scourge of antisemitism in our country,” stated the Combat Antisemitism Movement.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also issued a statement welcoming Trump's commitment to “combat antisemitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”

However, the AJC noted concerns about certain aspects of the order, saying “It is vital that other provisions in the Executive Order which have the potential to be broadly interpreted to threaten certain ethnic and religious groups be implemented with strict adherence to existing law.”

The national director of the Nexus Project, a liberal Jewish group, denounced the order, saying it “cynically weaponizes legitimate concerns about Jewish safety to suppress constitutionally protected speech and threaten vulnerable student populations.”