A Mysterious Group Says Its Mission Is to Expose Antisemitic Students

On March 24, a shadowy group that calls itself Canary Mission posted a new feature on its website, “Uncovering Foreign Nationals,” in response to President Trump’s recent executive order on combating antisemitism.

The group, which says its mission is to single out those who promote “hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” listed the names of seven students and academics, including three current and former professors at Columbia University.

The seven people whom Canary Mission flagged, all of whom the group says could be deported because they are not U.S. citizens, are among thousands of people whose pictures, along with details of their alleged antisemitic activities, have been posted on Canary’s website since its creation a decade ago — all accused of anti-Israeli activism.

Since the Trump administration began targeting students in a sweeping immigration crackdown last month, nine students and professors, several of whom had engaged in protests or other activism over Israel’s war in Gaza, have been either threatened with deportation or detained. Three of them had appeared on the Canary Mission website.

The actions taken in recent weeks against these foreign students and academics, many of them highly accomplished in their fields, have raised questions about why federal authorities are singling them out, and what role outside groups like Canary Mission are playing in identifying targets for deportation.

In a briefing on Monday, a State Department spokeswoman, asked about whether such lists played a role in decision-making, said the agency would not discuss “what happens with individuals and visas, and whether they’re issued or if they’re revoked.”