White House: Trump administration to revoke student visas of ‘Hamas sympathizers’

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. People the Trump administration says sympathize with Hamas on college campuses will lose their student visas. Haven Daley/AP file

The Trump administration plans to revoke student visas of “Hamas sympathizers,” a source with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.

President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order to ensure people who are not U.S. citizens do not support or advocate for designated foreign terrorists or threats to the country’s national security. The U.S. recognizes Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization.

Now under the new plan, people the Trump administration says sympathize with Hamas on college campuses will lose their student visas. Trump, in a fact sheet, also promised to deport any people in the U.S. illegally who “joined in the pro-jihadist protests.”

“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” the fact sheet reads.

The fact sheet also notes an executive order to combat antisemitism in the U.S. Under that order, the U.S. Department of Justice will take action 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.”

Federal executive departments are also tasked under the order with reviewing and reporting within 60 days all authorities and actions available for combatting antisemitism.

Last year, students around the country protested on college campuses against U.S. involvement in the war between Hamas and Israel. Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social in April, “STOP THE PROTESTS NOW!!!”

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