Foreign students studying in the U.S. who join pro-Hamas protests should be deported, a former head of the government’s citizenship agency said.
Emilio Gonzalez, who ran U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Bush administration, also said Friday that any green-card holders who join in demonstrations supporting Hamas’s murderous sneak attack on Israel could also be denied a chance at citizenship because they fail the “good moral character” test.
“Show me how clapping for babies being burned alive is good moral character,” Mr. Gonzalez told The Washington Times.
He said immigration law offers a powerful tool to clamp down on repugnant beliefs and universities, and the Biden administration should not be shy about using it.
“Don’t reward terrorism!” he said in a post on social media platform X, where he first laid out the idea. His suggestion comes after reports of pro-Palestinian rallies breaking out in U.S. communities. and particularly on college campuses.
Demonstrators have defended Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack as “resistance” to Israel, and a common theme among protests has been an image of a paraglider, similar to ones used as the vanguard of Hamas’s incursion last weekend.
Mr. Gonzalez said if any of those students are here on student visas, they could face consequences. The university could expel them, and at that point their visas would be null and they could be deported, he said.
“Hate speech works both ways,” he told The Times. “Universities are intolerant of people they consider to be conservative or right-wing on any number of issues, yet they tolerate organizations and students who espouse anti-semitic, pro-terrorist dogma.”
Mr. Gonzalez said others could also face the hammer of immigration law. If pro-Hamas protesters are here on work visas, those could be revoked.
And he said those here as legal permanent residents — also known as green card holders — should be blocked if they eventually try to apply for citizenship under the “moral character” requirement.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.