{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-mayorkas-deport-any-foreign-national-supporting-hamas", "Cotton to Mayorkas: Deport Any Foreign National Supporting Hamas", "2023-10-16", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nOctober 16, 2023\n\nCotton to Mayorkas: Deport Any Foreign National Supporting Hamas\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, urging him to deport any foreign national who has expressed support for Hamas. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, any foreign national who endorses or espouses terrorist activity should be deported.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cThe appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values. While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nOctober 16, 2023\n\nThe Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas\n\nSecretary\n\nDepartment of Homeland Security\n\nWashington, D.C. 20528\n\nDear Secretary Mayorkas,\n\nI write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national\u2014including and especially any alien on a student visa\u2014that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel. These fifth-columnists have no place in the United States.\n\nFederal law is clear that any alien who \u201cendorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization\u201d is inadmissible and must be deported. Swiftly removing and permanently barring from future reentry any foreign student who signed onto or shared approvingly the anti-Semitic letter from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee on October 7 would be a good place to start.\n\nThe appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values. While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.\n\nThank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.\n\nSincerely,\n\n______________\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-mayorkas-deport-any-foreign-national-supporting-hamas"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7116188537329435, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}