Edited by: TJVNews.com

In a move that has intensified the national debate over campus speech, immigration, and anti-Semitism, the controversial watchdog group Canary Mission unveiled a new feature on its website on March 24, titled “Uncovering Foreign Nationals.” The launch came just days after former President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at combating anti-Semitism, and according to The New York Times, it appears directly aligned with recent federal efforts targeting foreign nationals involved in anti-Israel activism.

The updated feature spotlights seven non-U.S. citizens—a mix of students and academics—whom Canary Mission accuses of engaging in “anti-U.S., anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic extremism.” Among them are three current and former professors at Columbia University, a campus that has been at the center of heated debates over the war in Gaza.

The revelations in The New York Times report come amid a sweeping immigration enforcement campaign launched by the Trump administration in late February. As part of that campaign, at least nine students and professors have been detained or threatened with deportation—several of whom had been previously listed on the Canary Mission website.

One such case, which has garnered national attention, involves Ms. Ozturk, a student who was detained by federal agents while walking near her university in Somerville, Massachusetts on March 25. Her appearance on the Canary Mission website followed the publication of a co-authored opinion piece in The Tufts Daily, criticizing the university for not sanctioning Israel in light of its military campaign in Gaza, as was reported in The New York Times. The video of her arrest quickly went viral, prompting outrage and comparisons to authoritarian regimes where dissent is met with criminalization.

Founded nearly a decade ago, Canary Mission has made it a practice of publishing dossiers on thousands of students, professors, and activists accused of harboring anti-Israel or anti-Semitic views. Yet, as The New York Times reported, very little is known about the group’s internal operations, leadership, or funding sources.

Unlike most advocacy organizations, Canary Mission has not registered for tax-exempt status in the U.S., allowing it to avoid disclosing financial records, board memberships, or physical headquarters. This has made it virtually impossible for watchdog organizations to assess the extent of its coordination with law enforcement or political actors.

Still, some information has surfaced. Jewish Currents previously reported a $50,000 donation in 2021 from Michael Leven, a Jewish philanthropist and former COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, as was revealed in The New York Times report. Leven confirmed to Jewish Currents and reiterated to The New York Times this week that he had resumed financial contributions to Canary Mission. His stated goal: to help “identify significant anti-Semites” and “bring the knowledge of their anti-Semitism to the surface.”

In light of the recent detentions, speculation has mounted over whether Canary Mission is sharing its information directly with federal immigration authorities. The group denied any such coordination in a statement to The New York Times: “Our investigations of anti-U.S. and anti-Semitic extremists are all publicly available on our website.”

However, critics argue that making these dossiers public in a moment of heightened political and legal scrutiny toward foreign nationals all but ensures they will be used by authorities as grounds for punitive action.

The unfolding situation draws attention to the volatile intersection of freedom of expression, immigration enforcement, and campus politics. Universities across the country have been roiled by student protests over the Israel-Hamas war, with increasing clashes between pro-Hamas and pro-Israel groups. The New York Times report indicated that Canary Mission’s emergence as an influential, if opaque, player in this dynamic raises urgent questions about surveillance, due process, and the chilling effect on political expression—especially among non-citizen students and faculty.

Civil rights groups and academic freedom advocates warn that this escalation, if unchecked, could create a climate of fear on campuses, where foreign students and scholars self-censor or avoid political participation altogether for fear of legal repercussions.

While Trump’s executive order is framed as a robust measure against anti-Semitism, critics contend that it is being used selectively to criminalize or expel individuals with critical views of Israel, as per the report in The New York Times. Canary Mission’s new focus on non-citizens may accelerate that trend, embedding ideological litmus tests into the nation’s immigration and educational systems.

In addition to Canary Mission another private group is also collecting and publishing names of individuals who are supporting terrorism. Founded in Riga, Latvia 101 years ago by legendary revisionist Zionist thinker, leader and author Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky, the Betar Zionist youth movement has seen a rebirth of sorts, since the organization went defunct in the late 1970s.

Betar claims 35 active chapters globally, and has publicly admitted to compiling a “deport list” of more than 3,000 immigrants who have expressed support for terrorism—particularly in connection with Hamas. In a statement to The New York Times, Betar claimed: “We have provided thousands of names of jihadis to the Trump administration of visitors to America who support Hamas.”

Betar’s efforts appear to have teeth. On March 13, the group issued a “deport alert” naming Momodou Taal, a British-Gambian graduate student at Cornell University. Just one day later, the U.S. State Department revoked Taal’s visa, The New York Times reported. Taal, facing deportation proceedings, later announced via social media that he had chosen to leave the U.S. rather than continue fighting the case in court.

Though Betar casts its efforts as a defense of national security and Jewish safety, its tactics have drawn intense criticism. According to the report in The New York Times, the Anti-Defamation League has labeled Betar “extremist” citing its promotion of the Jewish Defense League slogan “Every Jew, a .22”, as well as its purported harassment of Muslims both online and in person. Betar has rejected these accusations, defending its mission as rooted in the right of self-defense and Jewish self-determination.

Canary Mission also recently launched a new initiative titled “Uncovering Foreign Nationals.” As The New York Times reported, this effort specifically focuses on non-U.S. citizens, and has so far included seven individuals, including three current or former Columbia University academics and several graduate students.

These individuals, some of whom were already in the crosshairs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have faced visa revocations and detentions. Notably, they include Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia who was detained at his apartment on March 8. Momodou Taal saw his visa revoked the day after Betar’s alert and Mohamed Abdou, a former Columbia professor who was targeted in documents filed in a federal lawsuit, as was detailed in The New York Times report. He is also represented by civil rights lawyer Jonathan Wallace, who denounced the group as a “predator in the ecosystem we’re living in right now.”

“These lists amount to doxxing,” Wallace told The New York Times. “And unfortunately, a prime way of having ICE turn up at your door is if you’re being actively doxxed.”

Since 2015, Canary Mission has compiled more than 2,000 online dossiers on students, faculty, and activists it deems anti-Israel. Noted in The New York Times report was that while many are U.S. citizens, recent efforts have concentrated on foreign nationals—often Muslim students—who can be more easily subjected to immigration enforcement.

The group’s dossiers typically include names, photos, quotes, social media activity, and affiliations. According to the report in The New York Times, these entries frequently dominate Google search results and can follow individuals for years, interfering with job searches, academic appointments, and immigration proceedings.

Some critics see the group’s tactics as reminiscent of mid-20th century state repression. A 2018 report by the Middle East Studies Association, titled “Exposing Canary Mission”, explicitly compared the organization to the Red Scare blacklists of the 1950s.

Prominent academics who have themselves been listed by Canary Mission, such as NYU professors Zachary Lockman and Andrew Ross, have condemned the organization for its role in what they describe as a campaign of intimidation against critics of Israeli government policies, as was indicated in The New York Times report.

“If you find yourself on Canary Mission, you’re subject to a lot of harassment and intimidation,” Ross told The New York Times. “Character assassination and death threats are pretty common. All of these things certainly happened to me over the years.”

 Dr. Lockman, who teaches Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, noted the disproportionate impact on Muslim students: “There could be serious consequences for some of those included on the list, particularly for students from Muslim backgrounds.”

Lockman also stressed that while Canary Mission’s blacklist strategy has existed for nearly a decade, it has escalated dramatically since October 7, when Hamas launched its deadly assault on southern Israel. Since then, and with Trump’s return to executive power, he said, “they have the government on their side in a very active way.”

As U.S. immigration enforcement increasingly aligns with ideologically driven reporting by private groups such as Betar and Canary Mission, civil rights advocates warn that the consequences could be long-lasting and deeply damaging, The New York Times report noted.

“Right now, we are watching due process erode in real time,” said Wallace. “Being added to a list—without trial, without defense—can mean the end of a career, or the loss of a visa.”