Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) called for the United States to deport foreign students who support the terrorist group, Hamas.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cotton wrote, “I write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa—that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel. These fifth-columnists have no place in the United States.”
Cotton cited federal law in the letter, noting that any individual who supports terrorist activity “must be deported.”
“Federal law is clear that any alien who ‘endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization’ is inadmissible and must be deported. Swiftly removing and permanently barring from future reentry any foreign student who signed onto or shared approvingly the anti-Semitic letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee on October 7 would be a good place to start.”
“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values,” the letter states. “While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.”
The letter follows student groups on various American university campuses holding Israel protests and voicing pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas sentiments.
In a recent speech, Donald Trump said that he will “revoke the student visas” of those who express extremist, “anti-American and anti-Semitic” beliefs.
“Under the Trump administration, we will revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners at our colleges and universities—and we will send them straight back home,” he said.
