House Republicans sent a letter to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security on Friday demanding that foreign students who participated in rallies in support of Hamas be deported.
“We are concerned by recent reports of demonstrations on U.S. soil, including student demonstrations, in support of Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, following the shocking terrorist attacks by Hamas on our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. These demonstrations potentially involve student visa holders,” Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) and Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.) wrote in a letter addressed to to Secretarys Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Student visa applicants, like all non-immigrant visa applicants, must qualify under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to be approved for a visa. They are subject to a wide range of ineligibilities in Section 212(a) of the INA.”
The letter cited rallies held on October 8 – one day after Hamas infiltrated Israel and murdered more than 1,300 civilians – involving students at California State University in Long Beach and George Washington University defending terrorism.
“The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Tufts University issued a statement praising Hamas terrorists as ‘liberation fighters’ who, in their murderous attack on Israeli civilians, had shown ‘the creativity necessary to take back stolen land,'” the letter reads. “The SJP chapter at Swarthmore praised Hamas terrorists for having ‘valiantly confronted the imperial apparatus” of Israel, and honored the Hamas terrorists who died during the assault as ‘martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for liberation.'”
The letter, signed by over a dozen House Republicans, demanded the State Department and DHS investigate whether non-immigrant visa holders “have been rendered ineligible as a result of ‘endorsing or espousing’ terrorist activity by Hamas?”
The signatories underscored the importance of international students while noting that support for the Palestinian terrorist group was disqualifying. “Foreign students contribute much to our society, but individuals who advocate terrorist violence against civilians are not welcome here.”
“Affirmative encouragement of political violence against civilians by non-immigrant visa holders would appear to meet the definition of ‘endorses or espouses terrorist activity’ under s.212(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII),” the press release elaborated.
“If you support Hamas’ gruesome murder of innocent babies and killing people while they sleep, then you do not get to remain in America and enjoy freedoms that are antithetical to the terrorist extremists you support. Americans refuse to allow antisemitic terrorist sympathizers to create home-grown terrorist cells on our soil. Americans should never support terrorists over innocent people fighting for freedom from oppression,” Representative Duncan told National Review in a statement on Friday afternoon.
“Hamas has killed Americans and is holding our fellow citizens hostage while visa holders celebrate in our streets. I refuse to sit idly by while terrorist supporters dance on the graves of Americans.”
The letter comes just days after Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) sent a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas demanding a similar action.
Americans have a 1st Amendment right to make a fool of themselves with morally depraved views—foreign nationals do not.
We should deport any foreigner openly supporting Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel. pic.twitter.com/VP1OwmnqFI
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 18, 2023
“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.”
“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values. 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 senator wrote on Monday.