DHS used Canary Mission to target pro-Palestinian advocates
The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged using an online platform to identify and deport pro-Palestinian advocates. The disclosure came during a court hearing on Wednesday, July 9, tied to a legal challenge by student groups and university organizations. They are investigating how officials in President Donald Trump’s administration obtained their personal information.
DHS used public website to identify, deport students
In a Boston courtroom, NBC News reports that Peter Hatch, a senior official with the DHS, testified that most student protesters were identified through the website Canary Mission. The site claims to track individuals and groups it says “promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.”
Canary Mission says it works to combat antisemitism by gathering information from publicly available sources, including social media and news articles, to build profiles on students, professors, organizations and medical personnel. According to its ethics policy, the group uses the U.S. State Department’s definition of antisemitism, which describes it as “a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
In an email to NBC News, Canary Mission said it has not worked with the Department of Homeland Security, either currently or under the previous administration, but emphasized that its website is a public source accessible to anyone.
During his testimony, Hatch confirmed Canary Mission’s statement, saying the group is not affiliated with the government and has no current relationship with federal agencies. He said a team of investigators, not Canary Mission, identified students whom they believed posed national security concerns.
The trial is based on the First Amendment
In this case, the plaintiffs challenging the federal government include Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association and several other organizations. The lawsuit argues that targeting students or faculty for deportation violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional.
“The Trump administration is going after international scholars and students who speak their minds about Palestine, but make no mistake: they won’t stop there. They’ll come next for those who teach the history of slavery or who provide gender-affirming health care or who research climate change or who counsel students about their reproductive choices,” AAUP President Todd Wolfson said when announcing the lawsuit.
Who runs Canary Mission?
Canary Mission, an anonymously run website launched in 2014, has long faced criticism for targeting individuals it accuses of antisemitism. The Middle East Studies Association of North America said the site engages in defamatory attacks on students who advocate for Palestinian rights or speak publicly on related issues.
The group said, “Its campaign of vilification should alarm educators who value academic freedom and free speech rights in their classrooms and on their campuses, along with deans and other university leaders whose job it is to ensure the safety and well-being of their students and to help them secure decent jobs after graduation.”
The Nation did an investigative piece on Canary Mission, claiming that the website is secretly funded by Jewish American foundations and wealthy Jewish Americans. The article said that, after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 and Israel’s military response in Gaza, Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee released a public statement condemning the violence while calling attention to long-standing conditions in Gaza.
The message, published in The Harvard Crimson and cosigned by 33 student groups, described Gaza as an “open-air prison” and criticized Israeli leadership. In the days that followed, the website Canary Mission began publishing online profiles of students linked to the letter.
Back in 2018, more than 100 students and pro-Israel campus groups publicly denounced Canary Mission. In an open letter, the coalition said the website’s tactics, including intimidation and online blacklisting, ran counter to both democratic and Jewish values.
“We are compelled to speak out,” they wrote, calling the site morally wrong and a setback to efforts against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
What happens next?
The case is expected to continue into the week of July 13, focusing on the government’s arrests of students earlier in 2025. Among those detained were Mahmoud Khalil and others who were taken into custody in March over alleged national security concerns. Judges later ordered their release, ruling the detentions infringed on their First Amendment rights.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
