Donald Trump set to sign executive orders to combat antisemitism, cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters

US President Donald Trump is set to sign fresh barrage of executive orders in the coming days as he works to ‘reshape’ the Department of Education. The new laws will target antisemitism in schools, promote school choice, and cut funds for public schools teaching critical race theory. The POTUS has also vowed to deport college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Trump had campaigned on reshaping the Department of Education and cracking down on the ‘left-leaning political climate’ in schools. The order also directs federal agencies to examine ways to investigate antisemitic intimidation — including at college campuses — and to identify any civil or criminal authorities available.

Deportation of students

According to a fact-sheet on the order that was shared by Reuters, the Justice Department will take “immediate action” to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called “the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets” since the October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war. Agencies must provide recommendations within 60 days.

“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,” Trump said in the fact sheet.

School-choice programs

The president is directing the Department of Education to prioritize school-choice programs in discretionary grants, according to CBS News, which first reported the order. It would also order the Department of Health and Human Services to provide guidance on how states can use block grants they receive to promote private schools.

The order will also direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit a plan to the president on how military families can also choose which schools they want their children to attend and asks the incoming Interior secretary to outline a similar plan for families with students at Bureau of Indian Education schools, according to the report.

Termination of funding for public schools

That third action will terminate funds for public schools that “support critical race theory and other divisive measures in their curriculum” according to Leavitt.

Trump and conservative critics have lambasted what they cast as curricula in schools that are too focused on teachings about race, gender and sexuality and more broadly at diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in academia and government. On his first day in office, Trump signed orders ending DEI efforts in federal government.

It is unclear how the administration can redirect or prohibit federal funding to schools without congressional approval. Trump’s orders which threaten to test the boundaries of his executive powers are likely to face court challenges, as other early actions have.

(With inputs from agencies)