Trump Administration Used Canary Mission to Target Pro-Palestinian Academics for Deportation

Newly unsealed court documents and testimony reveal that the Trump administration relied heavily on Canary Mission, a controversial and anonymously operated pro-Israel website, to identify pro-Palestinian foreign students and academics for deportation. The Department of Homeland Security formed a "tiger team" that compiled dossiers on roughly 100 individuals largely based on lists from Canary Mission, which tracks and publishes information on pro-Palestinian activists on U.S. college campuses. Peter Hatch, assistant director for intelligence at Homeland Security Investigations, testified that more than 75% of deportation referrals were based on names initially identified via Canary Mission, though the information was independently verified and supplemented with data from other sources. The administration’s deportation efforts, supported by top officials including Stephen Miller, are being challenged in a federal lawsuit by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which argue that these "ideological deportations" violate the First Amendment. Canary Mission states it has no contact with the Trump administration and aims to document individuals promoting hatred against the U.S., Israel, and Jews, but critics highlight the site's lack of transparency and accuse it of doxxing. This case represents a significant legal challenge to President Trump's immigration enforcement policies targeting political activism on campuses.