In a recent move to combat anti-Semitism, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that has significant implications for foreign students and individuals involved in pro-Palestinian protests. This order authorizes the deportation of international students who participate in demonstrations perceived as anti-Israel, aligning with the administration’s broader strategy to address campus activities deemed supportive of organizations like Hamas.
The executive order, signed in late January 2025, directs federal agencies to identify and potentially revoke the visas of non-citizen students involved in such protests. The administration justifies this action by referencing immigration laws that permit deportation of non-citizens who “endorse or espouse” terrorist organizations, with Hamas being designated as such by the U.S. since 1997.
Critics argue that this policy conflates legitimate political expression with support for terrorism, potentially infringing upon free speech rights. Legal experts and civil rights groups warn that using immigration enforcement to suppress protected speech could be unconstitutional and may lead to overreach by law enforcement.
In response to the executive order, some university alumni groups have taken proactive measures. For instance, an alumni group from Columbia University has reportedly discussed efforts to identify students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, aiming to facilitate their deportation.
This development has sparked a broader debate about the balance between combating anti-Semitism and preserving free speech on college campuses. As the Justice Department moves to implement the executive order, educational institutions and civil rights advocates are closely monitoring its impact on student activism and international student communities across the nation.
During a meeting at the White House, a reporter asked Trump about Venezuela and the threat of terrorism posed by President Nicolás Maduro. Trump spoke about his administration’s efforts to combat the threat, which led to him slamming President Joe Biden’s incompetence.
“You talk about Argentina being important in Latin America. What is your plan for Venezuela? What is the new terrorism, the narco-terrorism against President Maduro? What is your plan about it?” a reporter asked Trump.
“Venezuela has done a couple of things very badly. Number one, we get drugs and all of that. But we get something, in a way, worse. Because they’re a big purveyor of drugs. But we have worse. What they do very well is they send their criminals into the United States. And they send Tren de Aragua, that you know very well. You’re from Venezuela, I assume. And they send them in by the thousands, literally. And these are the worst of all. They empty their prisons into the United States. They empty their mental institutions into the United States,” Trump said.
“And because we had a president who’s low IQ, he didn’t realize what was going on. And the people that are high IQ that surround him, but they happen to be lunatics, radical left, they’re highly intelligent, radical left lunatics. So, in a way, that’s worse than having a guy like Biden,” Trump added.
“But they ran the show. You heard about the Autopen. The person that really operated the Autopen. But it was really the people that told the person that operated the Autopen what to do. Those are the people that really were president. So, we’re not going to stand for it in this country,” the president argued.
“And, by the way, that Autopen thing is under serious investigation. I don’t think you care because you’re from Washington. You couldn’t care less about that,” Trump continued.
Trump concluded, “But I just want to say, because I do The Weave, you know. The Weave covers a lot of different subjects. But the people that are involved in that Autopen scam, because he barely signed anything. I mean, this guy, I don’t know how he can be president. He barely signed it. But the only thing we can find for sure is that he signed Hunter’s Biden. His pardon. Hunter’s Biden. I like that. That’s a good combination.”Internal White House emails reveal concern among aides and Justice Department officials about former President Joe Biden’s sweeping clemency grants in his final days in office, including uncertainty over whether Biden personally reviewed or approved the specific documents authorizing thousands of pardons and commutations.
The messages show that Biden orally approved a plan on Jan. 11, 2025, to commute sentences for inmates serving time on crack cocaine charges. But three warrant documents listing roughly 2,500 recipients were not signed — by autopen — until the morning of Jan. 17, just three days before he left office.
On the evening of Jan. 16, then-White House Staff Secretary Stef Feldman told colleagues she needed confirmation that Biden had consented before she would authorize his autopen signature.
“I’m going to need email … confirming P[resident] signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,” Feldman wrote at 9:16 p.m.
Deputy White House counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded Feldman’s message to Michael Posada, chief of staff to the counsel’s office.
“Michael, thoughts on how to handle this? He doesn’t review the warrants,” she wrote.
Posada responded: “We will just need something … making clear that the documents accurately reflect his decision.”
The mass clemency was announced hours later, at 4:59 a.m. on Jan. 17.
It remains unclear whether Biden personally reviewed the final warrant documents before autopen signatures were affixed.
In public comments to the New York Times in July, Biden acknowledged the use of autopen, saying it was necessary “because there were a lot of them.”
Legal experts note that the autopen carries full legal effect, but the warrants must reflect the president’s actual decisions. Emails show aides attempted to create a record verifying his intent.