Texas bill aims to discipline foreign students for supporting 'terrorist activity'
Lawmakers in Texas recently introduced a bill to require public universities in the state to discipline students who express support for 'terrorist activities.'
The proposed legislation is S.B. 2233, which was first introduced in March and was considered in a public hearing on Wednesday.
Lawmakers in Texas recently introduced a bill to require public universities in the state to discipline students who express support for “terrorist activity.”
The proposed legislation is S.B. 2233, which was first introduced in March and was considered in a public hearing on Wednesday, according to its web page on the Texas legislature’s website.
The bill, authored by State Sen. Adam Hinojosa, mandates that public institutions of higher education will adopt policies that prohibit students who hold a “nonimmigrant visa” from “publicly supporting terrorist activity related to an ongoing conflict” or persuading others to do so.
Students who violate the provision should be suspended or expelled by their university administration, the bill states.
The bill also contains a provision to ensure university compliance, allowing the state attorney general to “bring an action against an institution of higher education to compel the institution to comply with this section.”
“If the court determines that the institution has failed to comply with this section, the court may impose on the institution a fine,” the proposed legislation states.
For the purposes of the bill, “terrorist activity” is defined by the relevant portions of the U.S. Code.
The U.S. State Department designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.
Sen. Hinojosa described the purpose of the bill, saying that the state needs an “enforcement mechanism” against “terroristic activity,” according to KVUE. “All we’re trying to do is allow Texas to have an enforcement mechanism on our universities for defined terroristic activity,” the legislator explained.
“It’s requiring the institutions to develop that policy, a clear policy, and it would be incumbent upon those institutions to let their students know and understand those policies clearly,” Hinojosa added, according to the Austin-American Statesman.
The federal government has revoked the visas of more than 260 international students in Texas in the midst of significant pro-Palestine protests in the state.
In 2024, Texas had the third most international students out of all U.S. states with almost 90,000 students, according to Open Doors.
Campus Reform has reported about anti-Israel protesters at public universities in Texas, including one student activist who sued the University of Texas after being threatened with suspension for allegedly trespassing during a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Campus Reform has contacted Texas Tech University and the University of Texas for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
