Civil rights groups are sounding the alarm following reports that the Trump administration is planning to use artificial intelligence to identify and deport university protesters, escalating the administration’s attacks against foreign nationals and protected speech.
The State Department is reportedly planning to use artificial intelligence to “catch and revoke” the visas of foreign students who officials perceive as supporting Hamas and other designated terror groups, according to Axios.
There were more than 1 million international students in the United States during the 2023-2024 school year. Federal law enforcement agencies could comb through their social media accounts for content they perceive is sympathetic to terrorist groups. The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security will collaborate in the effort.
Officials also plan to review internal databases to see whether visa holders had been arrested recently but allowed to stay in the country. A person familiar with the matter told the outlet the agency has found zero visa revocations during Joe Biden’s administration.
Activists say the policy would challenge freedom of speech protections under the First Amendment.
“This should concern all Americans. This is a First Amendment and freedom of speech issue and the administration will overplay its hand,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Americans won’t like this. They’ll view this as capitulating free speech rights for a foreign nation.”
Employing artificial intelligence to track and flag individuals for visa revocation and/or deportation is akin to criminalizing peaceful political expression and dissent, the organization said in a statement.
“Not since the aftermath of 9/11 has such wide-scale surveillance been directed at non-citizen communities,” the group said.
Using artificial intelligence could lead to errors, misidentifications and abuses of discretion, the statement added.
“AI tools can’t be trusted as experts on the First Amendment or the nuances of speech,” according to Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar, for global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
“Using AI to scour visa holders’ social media for ‘pro-Hamas’ posts and report them to an administration threatening to deport international students for protected speech will undoubtedly encourage self-censorship,” she wrote.
The Immigration Nationality Act of 1952 grants the Secretary of State the discretion to revoke visas of foreigners considered a threat.
It appears Marco Rubio is ready to wield that power.
“We see people marching at our universities and in the streets of our country … calling for Intifada, celebrating what Hamas has done … Those people need to go,” he said days after October 7, when Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel.
Israel’s 16-month retaliatory offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Donald Trump has proposed that the U.S. occupy and rebuild the territory while displacing its residents, a plan critics say amounts to ethnic cleansing.
Last week, the Trump administration said it’s pulling $400 million from Columbia University and canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the school’s failure to combat antisemitism on campus.
The American Civil Liberties Union is urging universities to encourage robust discussion and exploration of ideas by students, faculty, and staff, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, and to protect the privacy of students and abide by the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“It is disturbing to see the White House threatening freedom of speech and academic freedom on U.S. college campuses so blatantly,” said Cecillia Wang, legal director of the ACLU. “We stand in solidarity with university leaders in their commitment to free speech, open debate, and peaceful dissent on campus.”
