Did the Biden White House Work with Colleges to Keep Terror Sympathizer Foreign Students from Deportation?

Press Releases

October 24, 2024

IRLI sues four federal agencies over emails for evidence of conspiracy

WASHINGTON—The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has filed a lawsuit in federal district court against four federal agencies—the Department of Education, Department of State, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). The suit seeks any emails between university administrators and the aforementioned agencies discussing ways to protect pro-Hamas student protestors from deportation.

In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel, college campuses across America were rocked by demonstrations organized by students who claimed Israel’s efforts to defend itself were disproportionate and unlawful. These protests were often violent, anti-Semitic and consistently expressed support for the Hamas terrorist organization. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has designated Hamas as a terror group. Hamas, in turn, is funded by Iran, a DOS-designated state sponsor of terrorism.

Pursuant to Section 2339B of the Antiterrorism Act, it is a crime for anyone in the United States to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization. Additional federal laws make it illegal to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or to persuade others to do the same. Foreign nationals engaging in such activity in the United States are subject to removal and may be barred from future entry into the country.

A large number of foreign students who overtly endorsed terrorist activity during the protests blatantly violated the terms of their student visas, rendering them subject to deportation. Yet, senior officials at a number of educational institutions have openly admitted that, in order to protect them from deportation, foreign student protesters would not be suspended or expelled, even when they advocated violence against Jewish students and faculty members.

What’s worse is the federal government’s complete failure to take any action to hold either universities or law-breaking foreign students accountable. In fact, government responses to the protests have been so similar to those offered by universities and colleges that it appears that the two are collaborating to protect foreign students at the expense of the American public.

When the White House was asked about prosecuting and deporting foreign students who advocated on behalf of terror groups, Biden Administration officials were dismissive, characterizing the chaos on hundreds of university campuses as young people engaging in the exercise of their First Amendment rights.

IRLI requested government records in order to determine whether there is an ongoing conspiracy amongst federal government officials and American institutions of higher education to keep foreign students who support terrorism in the United States.

 “If this collaboration is true, it would be yet another example of the Biden Administration putting the interests of foreign nationals over the safety of the American people,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “It is bad enough that this administration has allowed so many people on terror watch lists to cross our borders illegally. Now we have to file a lawsuit to find out if they are actively working to keep foreigners who espouse terrorism in the country.”

According to Matt O’Brien, IRLI’s director of investigations, “The U.S. has been the victim of multiple terror attacks perpetrated by people who exploited the legal immigration system. And U.S. universities and colleges receive billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars every year. Therefore, it is absolutely shocking that government officials and college administrators would choose to protect foreign protestors rather than U.S. citizens.”   

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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