Donald Trump says he would expand travel ban to include Gaza refugees if elected in 2024

CLIVE, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump said in Iowa Monday that Palestinian refugees displaced by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war would not be welcome in the U.S. under his administration, outlining a proposed expansion of his administration's travel ban on predominantly Muslim nations.

"We aren't bringing in anyone from Gaza or Syria or Somalia or Yemen or Libya, or anywhere else that threatens our security," Trump told supporters, declaring that "if you're coming from somewhere full of people who want to kill Americans, we will not let you in."

He said his administration would "aggressively deport" immigrants "with jihadist sympathies," send Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents to demonstrations on college campuses and revoke the visas of "radical anti-American and anti-Semitic" students.

The proposed policies expand on what Trump described last month in Iowa as "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history," as he builds on his first term's controversial immigration agenda amid a war and a developing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

"You have to love our country," Trump said. "You can't hate our country. If you empathize with radical Islamic extremists and terrorists, you're disqualified. If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you're disqualified. If you're a communist, Marxist or fascist, other than the people who are already here."

The former president's latest proposals come days after he was widely criticized for lashing out at Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Netanyahu "let us down" before the U.S. assassination of a top Iranian general, while saying Israeli intelligence needed to "step up their game" and calling Hezbollah "very smart" amid Israeli fears that the group could attack.

Trump later said he stood with Israel and Netanyahu, even as his Republican challengers denounced his remarks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a similarly hardline stance on refugees from Gaza this weekend in Iowa, telling potential caucusgoers that there "was never a Palestinian-Arab state" and that all 2 million residents of Gaza, including those not affiliated with Hamas, were anti-Semitic.

Iowa caucuses: Ron DeSantis pledges to refuse letting in Gaza refugees, says they're all anti-Semitic

A series of executive orders in Trump's first term banned travel to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — and suspended the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

The ban sparked protests and legal challenges from critics who said it amounted to religious discrimination, but a version of the orders was allowed to go into effect after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018.

In a statement after Trump's speech, the leader of the Democratic National Committee called it a "doubling down on the same Islamophobic rhetoric that has done nothing but sow chaos and breed violence."

"Donald Trump is following up last week’s erratic behavior — criticizing Israel and praising their terrorist enemies — by now exploiting fear and anxiety in a shameless attempt to revive his widely rejected, extreme Muslim ban," chair Jaime Harrison said.

Trump criticizes 'gag' order limiting what he can say about election conspiracy case

Trump's visit comes as he suffered a legal setback Monday morning in his trial on election conspiracy charges.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a partial "gag" order setting limits on what Trump can say about prosecutors, witnesses and the judge's staff in the case to avoid influencing the jury trial.

Chutkan ordered Trump not to make or post statements targeting Smith, court staff or witnesses. For example, Trump can no longer call Smith a "thug" or "deranged," she said. But Chutkan said there would be no restrictions on criticism of the Justice Department generally or about his belief the case is politically motivated.

Addressing supporters in Adel, Trump called the order "so unconstitutional" and said he would appeal it.

"I'll be the only politician in history that runs with a gag order where I'm not allowed to criticize people," Trump said.

When he mentioned the order in Clive, the crowd responded with boos. He decried it as "weaponry" while declaring that "I'm willing to go to jail if that's what it takes for our country to become a democracy again."

USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Galen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Donald Trump says he would expand travel ban to include Gaza refugees