August Pfluger Asks Experts: Should A Student On A Visa Be Allowed To Burn The American Flag?

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During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last month, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) questioned witnesses about the free speech rights of international students studying in the U.S. under a student visa.

Transcript

00:00Ms. Raymond. Members will now be recognized in order of seniority for five minutes of questioning

00:05and we may elect to do an additional round of questioning. I now recognize myself

00:11for five minutes of questioning and I appreciate hearing from from everyone

00:17especially hearing about free speech and Ms. Raymond your comments are you're absolutely right

00:25that we have to protect free speech that we have to be able to express views in no matter whether we

00:35agree with them or not and then acknowledge that there's a line so what I want to ask because it was

00:41it was mentioned by Mr. Siegel is so Mr. Siegel I'll start with you when somebody at a protest

00:49says free Palestine how does the Jewish community receive that

00:56uh context is is always the key uh with with any slogan and that includes chance of a free

01:05Palestine I think you know in many protests some in the community hear that they don't really think

01:11twice about it but I think if free Palestine is uh used to write graffiti on a on a sukkah or a Jewish

01:19institution that's a very different context is that a context of violence uh free Palestine

01:25inherently is not calling for violence on its own but if it's being yelled at when somebody's trying

01:30to burn people alive you could bet you could bet it is okay do do Jewish students in a rally that seems

01:39to be um heating up in a way that that is trending towards uh what what could be physical violence

01:47when somebody screams free Palestine with a Palestinian flag does that is that received

01:53by Jewish students on universities as a a rally rally cry for violence yeah I mean even thought

01:59amongst Jewish students is not monolithic I think different students may take it in a different way

02:03I think what is important to focus on is when those types of uh sentiments or slogans are used

02:09when uh targeting specifically uh Jewish students or other individuals elsewhere that's the context that is

02:17really troubling about that uh Dr. Carafano what what is in your opinion a rally or a uh free

02:24Palestine cry at a uh at a protest uh mean to the Jewish community right so I agree that context is

02:31everything and I think one of the things that we focus on is it is a difference I think if you are a

02:35U.S. citizen uh in a context of exercising your legitimate free speech and in the sense if you are here

02:42on a visa as a student or as a professional uh and you are promoting extremist ideas in the United

02:48States you're a guest of the United States in the U.S. it's very clear under U.S. legal authority

02:52that that if you violate the the uh terms of your of your stay in the United States you you should be

02:59removed from the United States if you want to come to the United States and you have a track record

03:03of extremist violence statements that the U.S. government thinks does it disqualifies you from

03:08entry to the United States you should be you should be denied entry to the United States I do think that

03:12those are those are really important distinctions and there's legislation that uh that that I am

03:17sponsoring and many others are supporting that uh gets at the heart of the overstay of those visas

03:22especially those that would perpetrate those attacks and Mr. Sleeper when you think about

03:25um the terrorist uh in the Boulder Colorado event um what what was this person's mindset

03:34how did they become radicalized how did they get to the position uh where they are espousing

03:40these um foreign terrorist organization uh ideals and this viewpoint of uh anti-semitic and violent action

03:51thank you sir the commonality amongst all three events were that the perpetrators

03:58condoned their actions in the name of Gaza they had all been consuming the same material the same

04:08information when you have three events violent events targeting the Jewish community within eight

04:18weeks and all three offenders say the same thing use the same terminology it's clear that there is a

04:27consistent message being conveyed uh and that message is targeting the Jewish community and it's being

04:36conveyed by everywhere from forest terror foreign terrorist organizations to nation state actors like Iran

04:42their goal is to do whatever they can do to incite violence against the Jewish community

04:47thank you Ms. Raymond um should those on a visa studying at a university uh at a participating in some

04:56sort of protest uh so not American citizens but those on a visa should they be allowed to burn an

05:02American flag at a university I want to start off by saying and scream free Palestine yes I want to

05:10start off by saying that to to be in America as a resident as a student is a privilege it is not a

05:19right and for those who are not upholding our values or threatening the safety and security

05:26of Americans there needs to be some process for consideration of removal burning an American flag

05:33shouting free Palestine are elements of that freedom of speech and there are as has been discussed before

05:42a great many interpretations of of what that means of what those types of messages mean right for many who

05:50would say for example from the river to the sea right they're seeing that um ignorantly as a synonymous

05:59for free Palestine right um but if you look at where the river is and where the sea is um and if in fact

06:08they're what they mean when they say that is that it is only for Palestinians and not for Jews that's a very

06:16different message thank you and I'll come back to my time is expired and I'll uh I'll yield to the

06:21ranking member and also be uh if you need an extra minute we can do that appreciate it

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