Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday calling for the deportation of foreign nationals who support Hamas.
In the letter addressed to the agency’s secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, the GOP senator urged the department to deport any foreign nationals who have expressed support for Hamas’s attacks on Israel, including international students studying in the U.S.
“I write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa — that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel,” Cotton wrote. “These fifth-columnists have no place in the United States.”
The letter, obtained by The Hill, comes as activists and college students across the U.S. have faced pushback after organizations at multiple colleges put out statements that have been characterized as defending the killings in Israel.
Cotton suggested that the DHS starts with deporting international students who signed or approved the letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee.
“Swiftly removing and permanently barring from future reentry any foreign student who signed onto or shared approvingly the anti-Semitic letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee on October 7 would be a good place to start,” Cotton wrote.
At Harvard, a group of more than 30 student-led groups signed a controversial letter saying that Israel was “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” happening in the region. The statement has since removed the names of the signing groups. Similar efforts took place at the University of Virginia and New York University.
Other pro-Palestinian student organizations distanced themselves from Hamas.
“We just stand for peace, it’s an emotional conflict,” one member of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee at Indiana University told the Indiana Daily Student newspaper.
Cotton said that despite Americans having the First Amendment right to speak freely, that same privilege does not apply to foreign nationals in the U.S.
“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values,” Cotton wrote. “While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.”
Cotton’s effort was first reported by The Daily Caller.