DOGE is not meant to cut spending. It is to systemically root out opposition within the executive branch and promote the business interests of Trump, Musk, and their cadre.

This is a distraction to keep you occupied while they do something far worse.

Agree. The vast majority of people at those protests do not support Hamas as an organization and certainly not their methods. I simply believe they’ll be accusing people at the rallies that did have Hamas/Hezbollah flags of guilt by association.

Yes. The narrow case is that if you express support for a designated foreign terrorist organization that is grounds for denying your visa, or revoking your status. So if you are on a student visa and went to a protest wearing a hamas headband and carrying the flag then you’ll end up on a plane out of the US.

Where it gets iffy is the question about people who showed up to a protest and didn’t know or see or agree with the hamas flags being flown there

I don’t think we’re having the same conversation.

This EO is about going back over the visa documents for people who entered legally and reviewing them based on a changed standard.

The article is badly written with a sensationalized headline. The EO is written in standard legalese, and only related tangentially to the article. H1Bs likely don’t need to worry too much, but postdocs on that visa who went to a protest may need to reconsider their political activity. The fact that CAIR is quoted should give you a hint as to how this EO is expected to be applied - towards international students on F1 visas - specifically those who have taken part of campus demonstrations involving symbols from foreign terrorist organizations (Hamas flag, Hezbollah flags, etc).

Beyond that, it may be used as a stick against postdocs working on politically charged topics like climate change.

Understanding the context and motivations of the administration is critical in planning how to survive the next four years.

Ignore it at your own peril.

So the actual EO doesn’t call out H1B at all, so I’m guessing this is sensationalized as H1B is the most “visible” visa in recent news.

The context for this is likely the Moroccan national who recently committed a terror attack in Israel. He had a green card and that was supposedly part of the decision to grant him entry as a tourist to Israel.

That having been said, this will likely result in some international students getting deported whether deserved or not. Semi-intended consequences is what I’d call them.