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PRO-ISRAEL GROUP SAYS IT HAS ‘DEPORTATION LIST’ AND HAS SENT
‘THOUSANDS’ OF NAMES TO TRUMP OFFICIALS  
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Anna Betts
March 14, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Betar US is among far-right groups supporting Trump effort to
deport students involved in pro-Palestinian protests _

Many American Jews have harshly condemned Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest.
, Bloomberg/Getty Images

 

A far-right group that claimed credit for the arrest of a Palestinian
activist and permanent US resident
[[link removed]] who
the Trump administration is seeking to deport claims it has submitted
“thousands of names” for similar treatment.

Betar US is one of a number of rightwing, pro-Israel groups that are
supporting the administration’s efforts to deport international
students involved in university pro-Palestinian protests, an effort
that escalated this week with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil
[[link removed]],
an activist who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia
University.

This week, Donald Trump said Khalil’s arrest was just “the first
of many to come
[[link removed]]”.
Betar US quickly claimed credit on social media for providing
Khalil’s name to the government.

Betar, which has been labelled an extremist group by the
Anti-Defamation League
[[link removed]] (ADL),
a Jewish advocacy group, said on Monday
[[link removed]] that it had
“been working on deportations and will continue to do so”, and
warned that the effort would extend beyond immigrants. “Expect
naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month,” the
group’s post on X read. (It is very difficult to revoke US
citizenship, though Trump has indicated
[[link removed]] an
intention to try.)

The group has compiled a so-called “deportation list” naming
individuals it believes are in the US on visas and have participated
in pro-Palestinian protests, claiming these individuals “terrorize
America”.

A Betar spokesperson, Daniel Levy, said in a statement to the Guardian
that Betar submitted “thousands of names” of students and faculty
they believe to be on visas from institutions like Columbia, the
University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Syracuse University and others to
representatives of the Trump administration
[[link removed]].

The group claims to have “documentation, including tapes, social
media and more” to support their actions. It claims to be sharing
names with several high-ranking officials, including the secretary of
state, Marco Rubio; the White House homeland security adviser, Stephen
Miller; and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, among others.

The White House and state department did not respond to questions
about whether they are working with Betar or other groups to identify
students for deportation.

Ross Glick, who was the executive director of the US chapter of Betar
until last month, told the Guardian that the list began forming last
fall. He noted that when they started compiling names, it was unclear
who the next president would be, but that the change in
administrations had been beneficial to their initiative.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to
deport foreign students
[[link removed]] involved
in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and frequently framed
demonstrations against Israel’s actions in Gaza as expressions of
support for Hamas
[[link removed]]. Last
week, it was reported that the US state department
[[link removed]] plans
to use AI to identify foreign students for deportation.

The arrest of Khalil last week, who served as a lead negotiator for
the Gaza [[link removed]] solidarity
encampment
[[link removed]] at
Columbia University, aligned with Trump’s executive 
[[link removed]]order
aimed at combatting antisemitism. An accompanying fact sheet
[[link removed]] pledged
the administration would cancel the student visas of those identified
as “Hamas sympathizers” and deport those who participated in
“pro-jihadist protests”.

After the election, Glick said he met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill
[[link removed]],
including the Democratic senator John Fetterman and aides to the
Republican senators Ted Cruz and James Lankford, all of whom, he said,
supported the efforts.

In a phone call this week, Glick said he discussed Khalil with Cruz in
Washington DC just days before he was arrested.

Cruz’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the
meeting with Glick.

Ted Cruz and Ross Glick. Photograph: Courtesy of Ross Glick

Glick said that the individuals on Betar’s list were identified
through tips from students, faculty and staff on these campuses, along
with social media research. He also claimed he had received support
from “collaborators” who use “facial recognition AI-based
technology” to help identify protesters that can even identify
people wearing face coverings. He declined to elaborate on the
specific technology used.

Glick mentioned that in recent months he had been inundated with
messages from students, professors and university administrators
across the country, all providing him with information on
protesters’ identities. He said that he vetted the legitimacy of
those tips and that he believed Khalil and other pro-Palestinian
protesters were “promoting the eradication, the destruction and the
devolution of western civilization”.

Glick described Khalil as an “operative”. When asked who he was an
operative for, he responded: “Well, that has to be determined.”

Khalil is being held in a Louisiana detention center after being moved
from New York. His detention is being challenged in a Manhattan
federal court.

The arrest has sparked outrage and alarm from free-speech advocates
who see the move to deport Khalil as a flagrant violation of his free
speech rights and on Wednesday, protests erupted outside the Manhattan
courthouse, where hundreds gathered demanding his freedom
[[link removed]].

Glick said that the individuals on Betar’s list were identified
through tips from students, faculty and staff on these campuses, along
with social media research. He also claimed he had received support
from “collaborators” who use “facial recognition AI-based
technology” to help identify protesters that can even identify
people wearing face coverings. He declined to elaborate on the
specific technology used.

Glick mentioned that in recent months he had been inundated with
messages from students, professors and university administrators
across the country, all providing him with information on
protesters’ identities. He said that he vetted the legitimacy of
those tips and that he believed Khalil and other pro-Palestinian
protesters were “promoting the eradication, the destruction and the
devolution of western civilization”.

Glick described Khalil as an “operative”. When asked who he was an
operative for, he responded: “Well, that has to be determined.”

Khalil is being held in a Louisiana detention center after being moved
from New York. His detention is being challenged in a Manhattan
federal court.

The arrest has sparked outrage and alarm from free-speech advocates
who see the move to deport Khalil as a flagrant violation of his free
speech rights and on Wednesday, protests erupted outside the Manhattan
courthouse, where hundreds gathered demanding his freedom
[[link removed]].

Betar is not alone in its efforts to support Trump’s deportation
campaign, an effort that has divided American Jews in whose name the
administration is purporting to act.

In the days leading up to his arrest, videos featuring Khalil and
others at a sit-in at Barnard
[[link removed]] against
the expulsion of two students who disrupted a class on Israel began
circulating on social media.

Pro-Israel social-media accounts, including that of Shai Davidai, a
vocal assistant professor at Columbia’s business school who was
temporarily barred
[[link removed]] from
campus last year after the school said he repeatedly intimidated and
harassed university employees, identified Khalil
[[link removed]] and tagged
Rubio [[link removed]] in
posts urging him to revoke his visa and deport him.

The video of Khalil that was circulating was first posted by Canary
Mission, an online database that publishes the names and personal
information of people that it considers to be anti-Israel or
antisemitic, focusing mainly on those at universities across the US.

When Khalil was arrested, Canary Mission said
[[link removed]] that it was
“delighted that our exposure of Mahmoud Khalil’s hatred has led to
such deserved consequences”, adding that it had “more Columbia
news on its way”.

On Monday afternoon, Canary Mission released a video
[[link removed]] naming
five other students and faculty it believes should be deported.

It was revealed this week by Zeteo
[[link removed]] that
Khalil had emailed Columbia University the day before his arrest,
appealing for protection and telling the university’s interim
president that he was being subjected to a “dehumanizing doxxing
campaign” that week led by Davidai and David Lederer, a Columbia
student
[[link removed]].

“Their attacks have incited a wave of hate, including calls for my
deportation and death threats,” Khalil said.

He added: “I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that Ice or a
dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal
support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary
protections to prevent further harm.”

In another email, Khalil reportedly cited a threatening
[[link removed]] post by Betar
[[link removed]], in which the
group claimed he said: “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” Khalil
“unequivocally” denied ever saying that.

In that post, Betar wrote
[[link removed]] that Ice⁩ was
“aware of his home address and whereabouts” and said it had
“provided all his information to multiple contacts”.

After the arrest, Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson for the White
House, said that Columbia University had been given
[[link removed]] the
“names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas
activity” but said that the school was “refusing to help DHS
identify those individuals on campus”.

‘A moment of reckoning’

Khalil’s arrest has divided American Jews, many of whom have harshly
condemned the activist’s arrest.

The ADL, a group that describes its focus as fighting antisemitism and
all forms of hate and that is also known to view campus protests as
antisemitic, welcomed the escalation and said it appreciated “the
Trump administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus
antisemitism.

“Obviously, any deportation action or revocation of a Green Card or
visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process
protections,” the group said. It added: “We also hope that this
action serves as a deterrent to others who might consider breaking the
law on college campuses or anywhere.”

But many mainstream, progressive and leftwing Jewish groups have
condemned the administration’s actions as a dangerous violation of
free speech.

“It is both possible and necessary to directly confront and address
the crisis of antisemitism, on campus and across our communities,
without abandoning the fundamental democratic values that have allowed
Jews, and so many others, to thrive here,” said
[[link removed]] Amy
Spitalnick, head of the liberal Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

In a letter
[[link removed]] on
Thursday to the US Department of Homeland Security, several groups
including the New York Jewish Agenda, Aleph: Alliance for Jewish
Renewal, Habonim Dror North America and others, said that they were
“deeply disturbed by the circumstances surrounding the apprehension
and detention of Mahmoud Khalil”.

“Irrespective of the content of Mr Khalil’s speech, we firmly
believe that his arrest does nothing to make Jews safer,” the groups
said. “In the past, laws and policies that limit the right to free
speech have often been wielded against the Jewish community, and we
are worried that we are seeing signs that they are being wielded
against Muslim, Arab, and other minority communities now.”

David Myers, a distinguished professor and the Sady and Ludwig Kahn
chair in Jewish history at the University of California Los Angeles,
told the Guardian he believed the Trump administration was
instrumentalizing and weaponizing “antisemitism for political
gain”.

“I think ultimately, [the administration] is interested in something
larger than defending Jewish students, it’s really interested in
bringing the university to its knees as a way of removing a key
liberal, progressive actor from the American political game,” he
said.

Myers described Betar’s decision to compile a list of people to be
deported as “horrifying” but “not a total surprise”, he said,
given what Betar has historically represented, which he called an
“embrace of Jewish fascism”.

“I find it distasteful, un-Jewish and collaborationist to forge
together lists of people who fail to meet a political litmus test,”
Myers said.

He believes universities should resist pressure from the government
and uphold the principles of fairness and democracy.

“It’s a moment of reckoning about where one’s values really
lie,” he said.

“If universities submit, that’s removing an extraordinarily
important site of free and open thinking from the American political
conversation. I think that would be very ominous for this country, a
further step in the move towards a fully authoritarian regime.”

ANNA BETTS is a breaking news reporter for
Guardian US Twitter @annabettss
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