“I am writing to urge you to expel without delay any foreign national, especially any foreigner on student visas, who has expressed support for Hamas and its fatal attacks on Israel. These fifth columnists don’t have any standing in the United States,” Cotton said. . Wrote.
More than 4,200 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state, prompting retaliation by Israeli forces. Thousands more were injured and many more were taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and killed.
DOZENS OF PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENT CHAPTERS CELEBRATE ATTACK ON ISRAEL: ‘NOT WITHOUT PROVOCATION’
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. , is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to deport foreign nationals, adding those in the U. S. to the U. S. U. S. citizens with student visas, who have expressed support for Hamas’ attack on Israel. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Federal law is clear: Any alien who ‘approves of a terrorist activity or persuades others to approve of or marry a terrorist activity or terrorist organization’ is inadmissible and will have to be deported,” he said.
The letter comes after at least several dozen teams of pro-Palestinian students at various schools and universities across the country issued statements and staged protests against Hamas’ attack on Israel, even as many universities condemned the acts of terrorism.
Shortly after the October 7 attack, the Harvard Palestinian Solidarity Groups issued a document signed by some 30 student organizations that said, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime completely to blame for all the violence that is taking place. “
The chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and other pro-Palestinian student teams at many other universities, including George Washington University, the University of Virginia and the University of California at Berkley, also issued statements over the weekend about Hamas’ wonderful attack.
HARVARD STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON ISRAEL TO BE ‘FULLY RESPONSIBLE’ FOR GAZA ATTACKS
In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cotton demanded that immediate action be taken to expel all foreigners who have expressed support for Hamas. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The Harvard Palestinian Solidarity Groups document was later removed after student organizations began withdrawing their signatures amid a bipartisan backlash and some executive directors demanded the names of academics who had signed it.
“Swiftly deporting and permanently banning any long-term readmission of any foreign student who has signed or approved shared the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’s anti-Semitic letter on Oct. 7 would be a smart position to start,” Cotton told Mayorkas in his letter.
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Many other teams of pro-Palestinian students at schools across the U. S. continue to post their statements online and participate in protests celebrating the Hamas attack.
“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in America in recent weeks should be a cause for fear for anyone who shares American values,” Cotton wrote. “While U. S. citizens would possibly have the right, under the First Amendment, to make repugnant comments if they so wish, “No alien has the right to defend terrorism in the United States. “