With one month to go until inauguration day in Washington, rights advocates are raising concerns over president-elect Donald Trump's unconstitutional campaign threat to deport pro-Palestinian student protesters.
As university students across the country demonstrated against US support for Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, Trump promised that he would deport campus protesters, presumably those from abroad.
"When I’m president, we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals, and if you come here from a violent country and try to bring jihadism, or anti-Americanism, or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you. You’ll be out of that school," Trump said in May in one of his multiple statements during his presidential campaign saying he would deport protesters.
The widespread protests came in response to US support for Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mainly civilians. Studies have found that these protests have largely been peaceful.
Of course, anyone in the US has the constitutional right to protest against the government. However, these statements aren't taken lightly, given that the source is someone who is about to take the office of president.
"Non-violent protest is not a deportable offence, period. Civil disobedience should never be grounds for deportation," Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told °®Âþµº.
"Pro-Palestinian activism is an important part of healthy discourse in America. By actively participating in these lawful protests, they gain valuable insights into American democracy, and those lessons are carried with them long after their time in the US," he said.
While it's unclear if Trump will be able to keep his repeated campaign promise, given the strong protection of free speech in the US, he is already getting pressure to make this one of his top priorities upon taking office.
Some proponents of the policy have suggested that it wouldn't take many deportations to create a chilling effect among other protesters.
"You don't have to deport every foreign student that ever lifted a sign that said 'Free Palestine.' But as soon as you start deporting people legitimately under revoking their student status, I think a lot of people will get the message that this is not a free lunch," said James Carafano, senior counsellor to the president at the Heritage Foundation, according to a by Jewish Insider.
McCaw notes that though there aren't legal mechanisms to back up this campaign rhetoric, nevertheless, he said, it's "designed to instil fear in students to discourage them from protesting for Palestinian human rights."