Last week, the Trump administration announced the formation of a joint task force, which it said aims to hold Hamas leaders accountable for the October 7, 2023, attack. But many fear this could be another weapon the administration uses to target activists within the United States who oppose Israel's war of annihilation in Gaza.

According to the administration, the October 7 Joint Task Force (JTF 10-7) will investigate "acts of terrorism and civil rights violations committed by individuals and entities providing support and funding to Hamas, its Iranian-linked proxies, and their affiliates," a similar effort to that initiated under the Biden administration. However, the new task force also targets "acts of anti-Semitism committed by these groups," which the administration indicated refers to university activism in support of Palestinian rights.

“The victims of Hamas’s decades-long violent terrorist campaign against Israel will always have the support of the United States government, and the Department will no longer allow unlawful support for Hamas on our campuses and anywhere else in the nation,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Anti-Semitic terrorist acts—whether here or abroad—will not go unpunished.”

This move comes amid an escalating crackdown, with several protesters arrested for their activism, including Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, permanent resident of the United States, and a prominent participant in the Gaza camp held on campus last spring. He is currently being held in a Louisiana detention center while his case is heard in a New Jersey court.

According to a report by Mondweiss, lawyers Thomas Anthony Durkin and Bernard E. Harcourt wrote in The Guardian: “The legal risks are real. They are risky, and they are worrisome. When it comes to a designated foreign terrorist organization—such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or related organizations like the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network—the line between political advocacy and material support for terrorism can be very thin, and any suspicion is often cast against those engaged in political advocacy.”

According to the website, groups like Samidoun have already faced government attacks. Last October, the organization was sanctioned as part of a joint campaign by the US Treasury Department and the Canadian government. Mohammed Al-Khatib, Samidoun's European coordinator, told Mondoweiss at the time, "We see this as part of this campaign against the Palestinian people, against the Palestinian diaspora, against the Arab and Muslim community, and against the Palestine solidarity movement."

He added, "We've seen these forms of repression against the student movement, against the LGBTQ+ movement, and against the Jewish community for defending Palestine. So, we are part of this campaign." While targeting Palestinian activists and organizations is not new, Trump has expanded domestic repression to levels reminiscent of the McCarthy era. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested student protesters, such as Khalil and Liqa'a Kurdiyeh, a Palestinian student from the occupied West Bank who is currently being held in a Texas detention center after being arrested in Newark, New Jersey, not for specific crimes, but for allegedly threatening US foreign policy interests.

On March 17, Badr Khan Suri, a Georgetown University professor and postdoctoral researcher in religion, was ambushed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers near his home and outside his Virginia home. He was taken into custody despite not being charged. He was informed that the federal government had revoked his visa.

“Tearing someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them based solely on a political point of view is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent,” said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU of Virginia, in a statement about the case. “This is blatantly unconstitutional.”

Several lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump's actions in recent days.

Yunsoo Chung, a 21-year-old Columbia University student and legal permanent resident of the United States, is suing Trump and other administration officials for attempting to arrest and deport her. Chung was active in the university's protests against Gaza, but appears to have been less involved than Mahmoud Khalil.

The administration is also being sued by two Cornell University graduate students and a professor there. This lawsuit seeks a national injunction to block the implementation of two Trump executive orders.