Trump's Executive Order Targets Pro-Palestine Students And Free Speech on Campuses

In These Times spoke with Radhika Sainath, the Senior Staff Attorney at Palestine Legal for clarity on how the executive order will impact students across the country.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

What kind of threat does the new executive order pose to the Palestinian liberation movement and those involved?

What the order does is it expands on Trump’s 2019 executive order that directed the education department to adopt a distorted definition of anti-semitism, which brands virtually all speech of Israel as anti-Jewish into federal civil rights law. During his 2024 election campaign, Trump made it clear he would threaten to pull billions in federal funding from universities for allowing pro-Palestine protests. This order is acting in that vein. It follows a January 20^th expanded travel ban executive order that would justify targeting international students and others who support Palestinian rights by calling for expanded vetting of individuals to both ban entry and to justify removing them based on ideological witness tests.

It appears to order universities to monitor and report on its own students and professors, and to call this McCarthyite would not be an understatement at all. It’s a dangerous authoritarian attempt to scare students from speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza by threatening them with prosecution and even deportation for non-citizens. It really strikes at the heart of students’ free speech rights. It goes without saying that targeting Palestine rights activists for punishment based on their viewpoints violates the First Amendment.

Who is most at risk from the executive order?

To be blunt, this executive order is racist at its core, and it really reaffirms Trump’s anti-Palestinian bigotry by singling out Palestinians and those who support their rights for Draconian prosecution, deportation and other consequences for engaging in protest activity. The executive order tells Palestinians and allies that voicing opposition to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians could be grounds for deportation or punishment.

We do hope that universities do the right thing and do not comply with whatever Trump’s federal agencies are asking them to do. One of the things the executive order says is that agencies are going to provide training, seemingly trying to enlist universities as sort of sensors and snitches.

Right now, we’re in a bit of a wait-and-see, as to how this will play out. But, I want to assure students again, that speaking out for Palestinian rights and criticizing Israel’s genocide is protected First Amendment activity, and that students should not feel that they need to stop just because there’s this executive order, even though it is also very chilling for those who are students of color, those who aren’t citizens, because they may be at more of a risk for being targeted.

How do you think the future student organizing for Palestine will be affected now?

When you see intense government crackdowns like this, on the one hand, people who have less of a tolerance for risk may feel that they can’t speak out, and that’s understandable. At the same time, you have students who are principled, who are ready to put up a fight that will continue to speak out against justice and human rights abuses.

These kinds of efforts really can backfire, because I think that there’s a lot of people in the university community who may not have really been thinking about Israel/​Palestine that much. Maybe they don’t even consider themselves to be leftists or activists. But then, [they] took note of this issue when they saw their universities calling in the police, the brutal responses, how their administrations weren’t following their own policies. And that’s what really galvanized them to take action.

I think we’re going to see both things. I think we are going to see people who are scared and who are chilled, but I think we’re going to see an increasing number of people that are appalled by what Trump is doing, and really understand that even if you maybe don’t care about what’s happening in Gaza — and you should, because it’s a genocide– this touches on all issues. It’s not going to stop with Palestine. We have long said that Palestine is the canary in the coal mine.

What is the impact of the continued characterization of pro-Palestine organizing as ​“terroristic attacks”?

This is straight out of Project 2025’s playbook, right? There’s Project Esther that says we are going to characterize the Palestine rights movement as a Hamas-support network. Then, in advance of the executive order being signed, Trump releases this fact sheet, which is his explainer that adopts this language smearing or describing all speech activity on college campuses that supports Palestinian rights as pro-Hamas or Hamas sympathizers. It’s Islamophobic, it’s anti-Palestinian. It harkens back to the 9/11 era, but with a new twist.

It’s going to backfire. Overwhelmingly in this country, despite what our government officials say, people, especially younger generations, really understand what’s happening. They see what Israel has done, they know it’s a genocide.

But Trump is speaking to the right, to his base. He’s really clear that this is not actually about real anti-semitism, because he says multiple times [in his fact sheet] that this is about fighting ​“leftists” or ​“left-wing radicals.” We know who’s in the administration, and they are actual anti-semites themselves. So he’s trying to make it really clear that this is not about anti-semites but about activists who support justice for Palestine.

How long have you been in Palestine Legal or in the Palestinian rights movement? And how have you seen it shift since then?

I joined Palestine Legal in 2014 about a year after it started. And in some ways, this broad censorship attempt, this top down tarring of the movement is not new, right? It’s been happening for a long time. We put out a report in 2015 called the Palestine Exception to Free Speech, together with the Center for Constitutional Rights that documents these tactics used by Israel lobby groups to try to stop this growing movement for Palestinian rights.

After October 7^th, it was just next level, as far as the repression. But also, next level, as far as the number of people coming out to support Palestinian freedom. That was really incredible to see. We saw a record surge in the people coming to us, and we were working crazy, long hours to try to handle those legal requests and get them lawyers.

Are there any precautions students should take given the new executive order?

Students who aren’t citizens — be thoughtful and be cautious in thinking about what you’re doing. You may want to consult with an immigration attorney. We don’t want to scare people away from their constitutional rights to speak out for justice. And non-citizens are protected by the First Amendment, by the U.S. Constitution in the United States. Trump cannot take that away by his executive order, or any order or mandate. But we do expect this government to not obey the law and try to avoid the Constitution. So be thoughtful, know your rights. If you are in a more precarious position for various reasons, you may just want to know what you’re getting into before you do it. We’re just telling students to be thoughtful before jumping into an action.

What sort of steps have places like Palestine Legal and other legal organizations taken in protecting the rights of students, specifically those in Students for Justice in Palestine or fighting for a free Palestine on their campus? Will this new executive order change the scope of your work?

Palestine Legal has represented or advised hundreds of students since October 7^th together with a large network of other movement lawyers that have been really key in helping us do this work. One lawsuit that we brought was on behalf of the University of Maryland’s SJP chapter. They had an interfaith vigil, planned for the first-year anniversary of October 7^th. After getting approval, pro-Israel groups and parents complained and threatened the university. The university canceled all speech activities for the whole day for everyone. And that’s blatantly unconstitutional, a clear violation of the First Amendment. It’s a state school. You can’t do that. We filed a lawsuit, a preliminary injunction, and we swiftly won. The judge agreed with us, and the students had a beautiful vigil that day. 

I think where there’s a lot more unlawful activities by universities, movement lawyers like Palestine Legal will be there to push back together with our partners.