It was billed as a "Palestine Night" gala and fundraiser, with proceeds going to families in Gaza. At the campus student center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, students in traditional Palestinian red and black robes mingled with others amid tables selling jewelry and keffiyeh head coverings, a photo booth and prayer mats.
The annual event, put on by Students for Justice in Palestine, is usually a big draw, but this year, more than a few students were nervous about showing up.
"I was scared that I would get photographed or something, and that would cause a problem," said one foreign student in the U.S. who asked that her name not be used for fear of jeopardizing her visa. "My dad knows that I am very pro-Palestine, and he was like, be very careful, like you don't want to take any risks."
The risks for foreign students have heightened dramatically since President Trump's recent executive orders cracking down on those deemed to be supporting U.S.-designated terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and the directives already appear to be chilling political activism.
One order targets foreigners who "threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology" or "support designated foreign terrorists." A second order meant to combat antisemitism specifically targets "Hamas sympathizers on college campuses." Both call for strict enforcement of existing immigration laws that bar visas for any such foreigners.
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice," Trump said. "We will find you, and we will deport you."
Abed Ayoub, head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says the threat is getting real. He says the ADC has heard from at least a dozen students who left the U.S. for winter break and were unable to return because their visas were canceled — with no explanation given.
"Two of them have no involvement at all with student activism on campus. They just happened to be from Gaza," Ayoub says. "This should be a concern of all Americans because this opens the door to really criminalizing any speech and any expression in the nation."
Asked for confirmation that visas were canceled, a State Department spokesperson said they could not comment because of confidentiality laws. The spokesperson said that "the State Department generally revokes visas when information comes to light indicating that an applicant may no longer be eligible for the visa under U.S. immigration laws, including when an applicant poses a threat to U.S. public safety and national security."
Some students welcome the orders, saying any student who crosses the line from pro-Palestinian advocacy to supporting terrorist groups is not acceptable on campus. And they say it's too early to say that any crackdown will prove to be an overreach. But others are fearful, lying low for the moment and skipping events and protests or showing up anyway, with trepidation, like the student at the "Palestine Night" event who asked that her name not be used.
"I feel like college is a time when we should be able to speak freely," she said. "I've been raised with the values that I should be vocal about what I believe in, so it almost feels like I'm lying to myself when I can't say what I feel."
Trump's order on antisemitism calls on schools to monitor their foreign students and staff — and report those who are "Hamas sympathizers" or "pro-jihadist," as Trump put it. Schools contacted by NPR declined to comment on how they will comply with the directive, or said only that they're still reviewing it.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel groups say they're receiving a growing number of tips accusing campus activists of supporting U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.
"One of my friends … was texting me frantically"
It's all fueling concerns that "support" will be over-broadly interpreted and authorities will be cracking down even on peaceful protesters, the majority of whom are focused on human rights and divestment. Many students worry that Trump's orders are a thinly veiled attempt to silence any pro-Palestinian advocacy.
"Their main target is anyone who supports Palestine in any way shape or form," says another student, an American citizen born to Palestinian parents, who asked not to be named for fear of harassment. He says his friends on student visas are terrified that even an old post or photo could come back to haunt them.
"One of my friends actually was texting me frantically" in the middle of the night, he recalls. "His face was in one of those posts, and he was texting me, 'Can we get this post removed?' And that kind of hit me, this is serious."
Some college newspapers are hearing the same concerns, so much so that the student newspaper at Purdue University, The Purdue Exponent, decided to give blanket anonymity to all students at all pro-Palestinian protests. The paper even scrubbed all protesters' names and photos from its archives, explaining that it "refuses to be party to such a blatant violation of the First Amendment rights."
Other students, however, have denounced the paper's new policy, saying that'll make it tougher to hold protesters accountable and to restore safety and stability to campuses.
"I think that's wrong," says Sabrina Soffer, a pro-Israel student at George Washington University. "It's like when [protesters] wear masks. It's just another way to put another obstacle in the way of holding students accountable."
Of course, Soffer says, implementation of the executive orders must be thoughtful and judicious. "Being pro-Palestinian is not being pro-jihad," she says. "But at the same time, we have to be scrupulous enough to make sure that those who really are a threat and who are connected to these terrorist organizations are the ones held accountable."
Maia Shteyman, a pro-Israel student from UMass Amherst, agrees. Students demanding humanitarian aid in Gaza, criticizing Israel or waving a Palestinian flag, for example, are not the issue, Shteyman says. But, she says, she's seen some protesters openly supporting U.S.-labeled terrorist groups on her campus, and that needs to be addressed.
"They were wearing Hamas-like uniforms, with the headbands, and there were intifada signs everywhere [saying] 'Go Hamas,' and pro-Hamas stuff. They were just saying this stuff straight up to our face," Shteyman says.
"I think it's much more common that you might imagine, that there are people actually coordinating with Hamas, that they are acting as the PR agents of Hamas," says attorney Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center. He has filed a federal lawsuit alleging direct ties between student groups and U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, and some protesters' explicit support for them.
"They are saying, 'We are Hamas and we want to do these things,' " Goldfeder says. "It behooves us to believe them and to take precautions for our national security. It is genuinely dangerous. And you don't even have to like the Jews to worry about it because they're coming for the United States, as well."
Deportation attempts are likely to wind up in court
Ultimately, any effort to deport a student for protest activity is all but certain to be challenged in court.
"The government would have a huge First Amendment hurdle to overcome if it sought to go after someone for their pure speech," says David Cole, Georgetown Law professor and former national legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union. "If it were enforced, it would be, I believe, struck down."
Others take a different view. Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is also a staunch free speech proponent. But in this case, he says, "It's not about policing or prosecuting speech, it's about enforcing immigration regulations, and immigration regulations say that if you espouse support for certain groups that are inimical to the American interest, then you don't get a visa, or if you're here already then your visa gets revoked."
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian students are left contemplating their risk. Some, like a 27-year-old graduate student from the West Bank, who asked that his name not be used for fear of being targeted, says he will continue to speak out.
"I mean, my people are being slaughtered there and dehumanized," he says. "I'm not going to just sit down there and just be afraid of speaking out, no matter what the consequences are."
Still, he did reach out to a free-speech advocacy group to make sure he's got help lined up just in case, as he put it, someone wants to "get rid of" him.
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