Florida Law Allows Student Groups To Be Labeled Terrorists

The “free speech party” is once again proving that they only believe free speech applies to people who agree with them. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law on Monday that gives him and other Florida leaders the ability to designate student groups as terrorists and expel any students who support them. 

According to AP, the law gives top officials of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement the ability to label a student group a domestic or foreign terrorist organization. The designation would then be approved or rejected by a cabinet comprising DeSantis, the state attorney general, the chief financial officer, and the agriculture commissioner. 

Should a student group be designated a terrorist organization, it’ll no longer receive state funding through school districts or state agencies. The law also requires universities to report any student expelled for supporting a “terrorist organization” to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they were attending school on a visa. 

“So this will help the state of Florida protect you. It’ll help us protect your tax dollars,” DeSantis said at a Tampa news conference. “It’ll help us protect things that should not be happening in the United States of America, but certainly shouldn’t be happening in the free state of Florida.”

Free speech organizations have concerns for very obvious reasons. Free speech advocacy group PEN America criticized the law for having vague language that could have the terrorist designation applied to certain education programs or students who protest against the Florida government. William Johnson, PEN America’s Florida director, told AP that the law “could chill education at every level. The implications are fraught.”

This law gives DeSantis and his cronies the ability to label any group they disagree with a terrorist organization. It tells students to comply with the whims of the state government and the Republican Party, lest they be labeled a terrorist. 

DeSantis has already shown a willingness to weaponize the state government against Black people with the Stop WOKE Act. The Stop WOKE Act gives parents the ability to sue Florida schools if they believe students are being taught Critical Race Theory. It also banned mandatory anti-racism and diversity trainings in Florida workplaces. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker struck down that last part in 2024, finding it “violates free speech rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”

Given his blatant embrace of white supremacy, what’s to stop DeSantis and the Florida state government from using this law to label any student group with a focus on Black or LGBTQ issues as a terrorist organization? While a Democrat hasn’t won the Florida governor’s office in nearly three decades, there have been a surprising number of Democratic victories in the state over the last year. Should a Democrat take the governor’s office, this law also opens up the possibility that right-wing student groups could be hit with the terrorist designation. 

It’s genuinely absurd that Florida is allowing any student group to be labeled a terrorist organization, even if they don’t commit violent or terroristic acts. This law seems like an even more blatant assault on First Amendment rights than the Stop WOKE Act, so I’d be surprised if a lawsuit isn’t filed against DeSantis and the Florida government. 

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