Matthew Lobel ,
April 3, 2025
President Trump Takes Real Action to Combat Antisemitism
PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNED TWO EXECUTIVE ORDERS TO COMBAT THE DISTURBING RISE OF ANTISEMITISM ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES
PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL DEPORT FOREIGN STUDENTS WHO SUPPORT TERRORISTS
- An executive order signed by President Trump, titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” ensures foreign student visa holders understand that their ability to study in America is a privilege, not a right.
- New foreign student visa applicants will be “screened to the maximum extent possible.”
- Students who “bear hostile attitudes toward [American] citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” or who “advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security” can be deported.
PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL ENFORCE TITLE VI OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
- A second executive order, titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” ensures enforcement of President Trump’s historic 2019 executive order.
- The 2019 order clarified that groups that face discrimination based on their national origin, race, or color do not lose protection because they also have a shared religion.
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act protects all people from discrimination, exclusion, or the denial of benefits based on race, color, or national origin in any program receiving federal financial assistance.
- Title VI protections require university administrators to respond when, for example, Jewish students are denied entrance to a university library by activists chanting antisemitic epithets.
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S WEAK RESPONSE TO THE UNPRECEDENTED RISE OF ANTISEMITISM MEANS THESE EXECUTIVE ORDERS COME AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE
- During the 2023–2024 school year, Hillel International recorded at least 1,854 reported antisemitic instances on college campuses—a 700% increase from the 2022–2023 school year. Instances have remained elevated throughout the 2024–2025 school year.
- The Biden Administration failed to prosecute violations of Title VI effectively, reaching profoundly disappointing settlement agreements and leaving the Trump Administration with 80 open investigations, many of which seem to have been idle for years.