This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called on the Biden administration to take prompt action to remove student visas amid a surge in antisemitic activity on college campuses.
Moody and a coalition of 19 state attorneys general sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas calling for the prompt removal of foreign student visa holders who are found to have endorsed terror activity or provided material support to foreign terrorist organizations.
“Amidst a disturbing surge in antisemitic activity on college campuses and around the nation, along with increased threats of violence following the abhorrent Hamas terrorist attacks, I am demanding that the Biden administration renew vetting of foreign student visa holders and promptly remove any who are found to have endorsed terrorist activity or provided support to foreign terrorist organizations,” said Moody on Wednesday.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, where 1,400 men, women, children and babies were killed and another 240 people taken captive, college campuses have become a glowing hotbed of antisemitic activity. Threats of violence against Jewish students and people are also rising. This comes at a time when the Students for Justice in Palestine, a group linked to both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad—two entities designated by the U.S. Department of State as “foreign terrorist organizations”—issued a “call to action” asking its college chapters to hold demonstrations on campuses across the country.
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides that “[a]ny alien who … endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” is “ineligible to receive [a] visa[] and ineligible to be admitted to the United States.” 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII). Additionally, anyone who “knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so” commits a federal crime. 18 U.S.C. 2339B(a)(1).
In addition to Moody, the attorneys general of the following states signed on to the letter: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
