The U.S. is under no constitutional obligation to shelter non-citizen residents advancing the State Department–designated foreign terrorist organizations.
In a typically incisive and compelling analysis, Andrew McCarthy praised the Trump administration over the weekend for its handling of the Mahmoud Khalil deportation case.
As a test case, this was a vital but fraught application of the directives that make up Donald Trump’s executive order combating antisemitism on America’s campuses. For some time, it looked like the administration had not overcome the procedural and evidentiary hurdles necessary to secure Khalil’s deportation lawfully. In the end, the administration met its burdens and satisfied the courts.
As Andy observes, the “president must be permitted to expel non-Americans who are pro-Hamas, antisemitic agitators.” Moreover, it “would be ridiculous to require waiting for an alien’s disruptive, pro-terrorist conduct to evolve into concrete criminality before the government could exclude or expel him.” Indeed.
The United States is under no constitutional obligation to shelter non-citizen residents who are advancing the interests of State Department–designated foreign terrorist organizations. As the Biden administration demonstrated, there are material financial links between Iran and the campus protests. Even if there weren’t, America’s adversaries are not ignorant of the dynamic on America’s campuses, and they’re not shy about leveraging that pressure point to shape or constrain U.S. foreign policy.
This is a victory both for the Trump administration and for the Americans who watched in horror as American campuses descended into an orgy of anti-Jewish hatred in the wake of the 10/7 massacre. Now, the president’s antisemitism executive order has teeth. This is an important development within the administration’s effort to reimpose prudence on some of the nation’s most out-of-control campuses.
If, however, you’re asking Jewish Americans inclined toward leftwing activism, it’s important for all the wrong reasons. In an atypically lengthy Axios item, reporter April Rubin notes that efforts to combat antisemitism on campus risk making their torment worse. Deporting those who present a threat to U.S. security, as determined by the Secretary of State, “risks making Jewish people scapegoats,” which could “stoke further animus against Jews.”
“The Trump administration continues to exploit our community’s concerns to unfairly target others,” said the Nexus Leadership Project’s Jonathan Jacoby, “all while elevating and engaging in antisemitism themselves.” If Jacoby rested that argument on that the president has surrounded himself with people who flirt with antisemitic themes while indulging their impulse to be their worst selves on social media, he might have had a point. But that wasn’t his point. Rather, Jacoby’s claim rests on the notion that calling a pro-Hamas agitator a “terrorist sympathizer” will not “make Jews any safer.”
“The president is weaponizing the real pain American Jews face to advance his desire to wield control over the truth-seeking academic institutions that stand as a bulwark against authoritarianism,” said Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) to conclude the article.
This sounds like a no-win proposition. If Americans sit back and allow U.S. campuses and city streets to become overrun by antisemitic agitators, many of whom are not opposed to resorting to violence and harassment to intimidate their targets, it does American Jews no favors. If, however, we object too loudly to their mistreatment, that risks agitating the anti-semites further. It could even swell their ranks as Americans ponder why the country’s Jewish population seems to be benefiting from special treatment from their government.
Either way, America’s Jews are to be consigned to bigotry and harassment. That, or they should resolve to hide the practice of their faith and relegate themselves to the shadows. That may be an assault on their essential liberties, but what can you do?
This is only a dilemma if you believe the agitators and their noxious cause cannot be defeated. Thankfully, that’s a delusion to which the Trump administration is not beholden.