Washington DC – Civil rights advocates in the United States are raising the alarm due to a directive signed by the president Donald Trump They say they are laying the groundwork for another travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries.

the Executive orderExperts say it, released Monday, could also be used to target foreign nationals already in the United States legally and prey on international students who advocate for Palestinian rights.

Depa Alipsan, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), an advocacy group, said the new order is “bigger and worse” than Trump’s “alien” travel ban on many refugees. Muslim majority countries In 2017 during his first term.

“The worst part of it now is, it’s not only looking to ban people outside the United States, but also to use that same rationale as a basis to take people out of the United States,” Alipsan told Al Jazeera.

The new order directs administration officials to compile a list of countries “for which screening and vetting information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or complete suspension on the admission of citizens from those countries.”

It goes further. It calls for limiting the number of citizens who have entered the United States from those countries since 2021 – during Joe Biden’s presidency – and collect “relevant” information about their “actions and activities.”

The White House then requests “immediate steps” to deport foreign nationals from those countries “whenever information is identified that would support exclusion or removal.”

Trump’s executive order also says the administration must ensure that foreign nationals, including those in the United States, “do not harbor hostile attitudes” toward American citizens, culture or government and “do not advocate for or support designated foreign terrorists.”

Call request advocates ‘scary’

Alipesan warned that the decree, called “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other Threats to National Security and Public Safety,” could do more damage to the country. Immigrant families Of the 2017 travel restrictions, known collectively as the “Islamic ban”.

She said the system’s vague language is “frightening” because it appears to give agencies broad authority to recommend actions against people the administration seeks to target.

“At its core, it’s just another way to turn people away Get people outTo break up families, to incite fear, to make sure people know they are not welcome and that the government will bring its power to bear.”

Other advocacy groups have criticized the order since its publication.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said the decree goes further than the 2017 “Islam ban” by giving the government “wider latitude to use ideological exclusion” to deny visas and remove people from the United States.

“ADC calls on the Trump administration to stop stigmatizing and targeting entire communities, which are only farmed in a section,” the group said in a statement.

America’s promise Freedom of expression The expression — a principle long highlighted by President Trump himself — now stands in stark contrast to his new executive order. “

The Islamic Public Affairs Council also warned in a statement that strengthening vetting measures for specific countries risks “acting as a de facto Muslim ban under the guise of security protocols.”

It seems to be refreshing, said Maryam Jamshidi, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Law travel ban of Trump’s first term, pushing his right-wing agenda into the broader culture wars.

Parts of the decree also specifically target Palestinians Supporters of Palestinian rightsJamwede added.

“The right is too invested in perpetuating this idea that foreigners, black, brown, Muslim people—not Messianic, effectively—threaten ‘real Americans.’

“More work possible”

In 2018, several American media outlets reported this Trump told aides The United States should admit more immigrants from places like Norway rather than people from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations, which he called “hole countries.”

Many right-wing politicians—including Trump’s current vice president, J.D. Vance—have embraced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits that there is an attempt to replace native-born Americans with immigrants.

Trump’s latest order warns against foreign nationals in the United States who seek to undermine or replace American culture.

However, experts say it is unlikely to be used as a mass deportation vehicle.

“It gives marching orders to agencies to use the full extent of legal frameworks and loopholes to take the most actionable possible to remove people President He decided he didn’t want to be here.”

“However, there are still laws that limit the reasons someone can be removed, and there are protections available for people who are in deportation proceedings.”

Jamshidi also said that it is not clear how the order will get people deported, noting that it has not been proven whether the aforementioned immigration law gives the administration authority to remove foreign citizens.

The decree relies on a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the president power to restrict entry into the United States for “any class of aliens” — but not to remove people already here.

“This is probably not a blanket deportation charge,” Jamshidi said.

But she warned that the order could lead to greater scrutiny against people from those countries and deter political activities – particularly Palestinian solidarity – that could be seen as filtering into the administration’s guidance.

Efforts to deport student activists

The order directs U.S. officials to make recommendations to “protect” citizens from foreign nationals “who preach or call for sectarian violence or the overthrow of the culture on which our constitutional republic stands or who provide aid, advocacy, or support to terrorists.”

Jamshidi said the language is “definitely about foreign nationals, including foreign students who are involved in Palestinian advocacy.”

With pro-Israel politicians often calling campus activists “pro-“, Jamshidi said Trump’s decree could be used to target Palestinian rights advocates who are in the United States on student visas.

Both Trump and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio It has previously called for the deportation of international students.

Palestinian solidarity protests also swept Universities of the country After the outbreak of war on Gaza, supporters of Israel, especially Republicans, painted the student protesters as a threat to campus safety.

Rubio led the Senate letter to Biden administration In October 2023, calling for the removal of international students who participated in protests in support of Palestinians.

The letter drew parallels between the student protesters and the September 11 attackers. He cited “lessons learned on September 11, 2001, when terrorists, studying in the United States or over visas, staged the deadliest attack on American soil.”

“Sadly, twenty years later, our country is witnessing public displays of terrorist sympathizers taking to the streets and condoning brutal Hamas attacks against the State of Israel.”

The GOP’s 2024 platform also calls for the deportation of “pro-zealous extremists” to make college campuses “safe and patriotic again.”

‘Wider implications’

Dima Khalidi, director of the Palestine Legal Advocacy Group, said it was “clear” that Trump’s latest executive order was designed to specifically target supporters of Palestinian rights.

She added that although the decree does not define Israel, pro-Israel groups are trying to portray criticism of the American ally as not only anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic but as “un-American.”

“We have to tie this arrangement to a broader ideological imposition that is happening and part of the larger purge that Trump seems very intent on doing,” Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

She said the Trump administration seeks to use broad discretion in immigration law to eliminate supporters of Palestinian rights because of their views and circumvent free speech rights.

“They really paint a picture of people of what is acceptable, what is not acceptable; what is American, what is not; what is patriotic, what is not,” Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

The bottom line, critics say, is that, even though Trump’s “first Muslim ban” targeted travelers from many Muslim-majority countries, this order has far-reaching consequences, including what it means for Be American.

For example, the decree calls for measures to ensure the “proper assimilation” of immigrants and “to promote a unified American identity.”

Jamshidi said the order “has broader implications for all types of groups than the initial iterations of the Muslim ban.”

“He is another predecessor in the right-wing culture wars,” she told Al Jazeera.