On Monday, the American president signed an executive order prohibiting and criminalizing the burning of the American flag, an act currently protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The order authorizes Attorney General Pam Bondi to ”vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that desecrate the American flag”.

– If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail – no early release, nothing at all, said Trump as he signed the order.

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– And you will see the flag burning stop immediately, he added, reminding that a measure he took during his first administration to protect monuments from being destroyed had a similar effect.

The Department of Justice has been instructed to investigate all incidents where the American flag has been set on fire and to bring charges ”where prosecution would not conflict with the First Amendment”.

Revoke residence permits

Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, or Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem may also revoke visas, residence permits, naturalization proceedings, or other immigration benefits for foreign citizens who burn American flags.

In 1989, the Supreme Court established that burning the American flag was an act of ”symbolic speech” with constitutional protection. The following year, the Supreme Court decided that flag burning was considered free speech, overturning the federal flag protection law from 1989.

The late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia collaborated with former Justice Anthony Kennedy in both cases in the Supreme Court to uphold Americans’ right to burn the American flag.

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