On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism. The order focuses on "additional measures to combat campus anti-semitism."
- Read the Executive Order on whitehouse.gov: Executive Order: Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, January 29, 2025
- Read a White House Fact Sheet on whitehouse.gov: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Takes Forceful and Unprecedented Steps to Combat Anti-Semitism, January 30, 2025
General Summary
Section 2 - General Policy
The executive order describes a general policy of the administration "to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence."
Section 1 - Reaffirmation of Executive Order 13899 of December 11, 2019
Section 1 of this January 29, 2025 executive order "reaffirms Executive Order 13899 and directs additional measures to advance the policy thereof in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, against the people of Israel."
Executive Order 13899, issued during the first Trump administration, sought to "enforce Title VI against prohibited forms of discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism as vigorously as against all other forms of discrimination prohibited by Title VI." This prior executive order noted: "Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq., prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance. While Title VI does not cover discrimination based on religion, individuals who face discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin do not lose protection under Title VI for also being a member of a group that shares common religious practices. Discrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when the discrimination is based on an individual's race, color, or national origin."
Section 1 also cites a December 18, 2024 U.S. House of Representatives Staff Report on Antisemitism in its description of "an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses."
The rest of the order focuses on measures connected to institutions of higher education.
Section 3 - Specific Measures Impacting Institutions of Higher Education
Section 3 of the executive order sets forth the following "additional measures to combat campus anti-semitism":
"(a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the head of each executive department or agency (agency) shall submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, identifying all civil and criminal authorities or actions within the jurisdiction of that agency, beyond those already implemented under Executive Order 13899, that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism, and containing an inventory and analysis of all pending administrative complaints, as of the date of the report, against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism."
(b) The report submitted by the Attorney General under this section shall additionally include an inventory and an analysis of all court cases, as of the date of the report, against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism and indicate whether the Attorney General intends to or has taken any action with respect to such matters, including filing statements of interest or intervention.
(c) The Attorney General is encouraged to employ appropriate civil-rights enforcement authorities, such as 18 U.S.C. 241, to combat anti-Semitism.
(d) The report submitted by the Secretary of Education under this section shall additionally include an inventory and an analysis of all Title VI complaints and administrative actions, including in K-12 education, related to anti-Semitism - pending or resolved after October 7, 2023 - within the Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
(e) In addition to identifying relevant authorities to curb or combat anti-Semitism generally required by this section, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with each other, shall include in their reports recommendations for familiarizing institutions of higher education with the grounds for inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3) so that such institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens."
NAFSA Notes
Note: 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3), referenced in Section 3(e) of the executive order, lists the "Security and related grounds" of inadmissibility to the United States, including terrorist activity (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)).
Note: The fact sheet that accompanies this executive order states that: "Now, President Trump has promised that the Federal Government will... Deport Hamas Sympathizers and Revoke Student Visas," quoting the President as having said: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.” Having said that, this language is not repeated in the executive order itself.
Note: For background on the types of laws relevant to inadmissibility and removability determinations due to the Immigration and Nationality Act's terrorism-related provisions see NAFSA's page Terrorism-Related Provisions Cited in 2023 State Attorneys General Letter.
Note: Assessing whether an individual’s specific actions could trigger any of these complicated laws must be done on a case-by-case basis by an experienced attorney. Weighing liability under one or more of these laws against First Amendment rights of free speech also warrants close examination by a lawyer or lawyers well-versed in both immigration and constitutional law.