ZOA Criticizes AJC for Opposing Security Restrictions Order;
Should Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Pakistan Be Added?
ZOA Also Calls for Vetting for Attitudes Towards Jews
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
The ZOA praises President Donald Trump for issuing two executive orders on June 4, 2025, to improve national security, including the security of vulnerable, targeted American Jews throughout the United States and at Harvard University: “Proclamation Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” and “Proclamation Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University.”
The first proclamation reiterated President Trump’s Executive Order 14161 of January 20, 2025 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), that “The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”
Protecting the security of all American citizens is indeed the first duty of an American president. Too many immigrants have hostile attitudes towards U.S. citizens – especially American Jewish citizens – including the Egyptian immigrant who attempted to burn to death American Jews in Boulder, Colorado. It is thus shameful and dangerous to the American Jewish public that the American Jewish Committee (AJC) publicly opposed President Trump’s proclamation protecting our security from hostile immigrants.
The first June 4 proclamation was issued after the U.S. administration determined that vetting procedures from specific countries were deficient, and after accounting for national security, counterterrorism and foreign policy objectives. The proclamation fully restricted and limited the entry of nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen; and partially restricted and limited the entry of nationals from: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The proclamation noted that visa overstays rates from these countries ranged from 6.49% to 70.18%. All these rates are well above the national average overstay rate of 1.45%. Visa overstays are a major portion of illegal immigrants. (See “Visa Overstays Make up Almost 40 Percent of Illegal U.S. Entries,” Statista, by Katharina Buchholz, May 21, 2025.) The proclamation further noted that the restricted countries included U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism (Iran and Cuba); nations that fail to cooperate with the U.S. in identifying security risks; and nations that refuse to accept back, removable nationals.
If anything, ZOA wonders whether the proclamation should be expanded to include nationals from more countries, including: Egypt – the origin of the Boulder, CO arsonist and Molotov-cocktail attacker; Egypt also refuses to admit most Gazan refugees; Jordan – which likewise refuses to admit most Gazan refugees and gives safe harbor to Sbarro restaurant Jew-killer Ahlam Tamimi; Pakistan – the origin of the poorly vetted San Bernadino, CA Christmas party shooter and terrorist group that tortured and murdered a pregnant Jewish woman and others at the Mumbai, India Chabad house; and Syria – which is still a designated state sponsor of terrorism. The DHS 2023 Overstay Report reveals that overstay rates from these countries for nonimmigrants admitted for business or pleasure and for students were, respectively: 4.16% and 4.23% for Egyptians; 5.88% and 10.04% for Jordanians; 5.03% and 4.65% for Pakistanis and 9.68% and 12.25% for Syrians. These are all well above national overstay rates.
ZOA also strongly applauds the president’s proclamation that the U.S. must be protected from those who bear hostile attitudes toward U.S. citizens. In order to carry this out, ZOA suggests that vetting procedures should add specific questions about potential entrants’ attitudes toward U.S. citizens. For instance, potential entrants should be asked “do you have any hostility toward Jews?”
President Trump’s second proclamation, restricting entry of foreign nationals to study at Harvard, is also an important step for protecting national and students’ safety – especially Jewish students’ safety. The proclamation notes that “Harvard University has refused the recent requests of the DHS for information about foreign students’ ‘known illegal activity,’ ‘known dangerous and violent activity,’ ‘known threats to other students or university personnel,’ ‘known deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel,’ and whether those activities ‘occurred on campus,’ and other related data. Harvard provided data on misconduct by only three students, and the data it provided was so deficient that the DHS could not evaluate whether it should take further actions. Harvard’s actions show that it either is not fully reporting its disciplinary records for foreign students or is not seriously policing its foreign students.” After decades of Harvard failing to police foreign students’ harassment and attacks on Jewish students, the new restrictions are a much-needed breath of fresh air.