Civil Rights Groups Warn against Trump Plan to Use AI to Target Pro-Palestinian Protesters
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Civil rights organizations have raised concerns over reports that the Trump administration plans to deploy AI to identify and deport foreign students involved in university protests, warning that the move threatens free speech and targets non-citizens unfairly.
The State Department is reportedly preparing to use AI technology to “identify and revoke” the visas of foreign students believed to support Hamas, according to Axios.
More than one million international students were enrolled in US universities during the 2023-2024 academic year. Federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, are expected to scrutinize their social media activity for content deemed sympathetic to such groups.
Authorities also plan to examine internal databases to determine whether visa holders have been recently arrested but allowed to remain in the country. A source familiar with the matter told Axios that under President Joe Biden’s administration, no student visas had been revoked for these reasons.
Activists argue that the proposed policy would infringe on First Amendment protections.
“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.”
The organization warned that using AI to monitor visa holders could criminalize peaceful political expression and dissent.
“Not since the aftermath of 9/11 has such wide-scale surveillance been directed at non-citizen communities,” the group said in a statement, adding that AI systems could result in misidentifications, errors, and abuses of discretion.
“AI tools can't be trusted as experts on the First Amendment or the nuances of speech,” said 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 and Nationality Act of 1952 grants the Secretary of State the authority to revoke visas of foreign nationals deemed a threat.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio signaled support for such measures, stating, “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,” referencing the October 7 attack in which Hamas attacked Israeli occupied territories.
Israel’s 16-month military response has resulted in a genocidal war that killed over 48,000 Palestinian, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Trump has proposed that the US occupy and rebuild Gaza while relocating its residents, a plan critics argue constitutes ethnic cleansing.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it would withdraw $400 million in funding from Columbia University and terminate grants and contracts, citing the institution’s failure to combat antisemitism on campus.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) urged universities to uphold free expression and protect students’ rights, regardless of their immigration status.
“It is disturbing to see the White House threatening freedom of speech and academic freedom on US college campuses so blatantly,” said ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang. “We stand in solidarity with university leaders in their commitment to free speech, open debate, and peaceful dissent on campus.”
