Over the course of a week, I have been sinking into higher education in the US.
International students and faculty are seeing an ever-increasing crackdown Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University With anxiety. Some say they are familiar with government crackdowns, but they never expected it on American university campuses.
Elite New York City universities have become the focus of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport foreigners who participated in Palestinian demonstrations at the university last year.
Federal immigration agents have it Two foreigners were arrested -One of them was a student who protested in Colombia last year. They are I have revoked my visa Another student fled the United States this week. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security also searched on campus homes for two Columbia students on Thursday, but did not arrest them there.
GOP officials have warned that it was just the beginning, saying more student visas are expected to be revoked in the coming days.
Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism issued a statement last week reporting “surprising cold” among foreigners.
“Many of our international students are afraid to come to classes and events on campus,” the statement was signed by the Faculty of Columbia School of Journalism.
“They’re right to worry,” he added.
Alarms on campuses nationwide
International students and faculty across the United States feel they are afraid to express their opinions and stand out on campus, fearing that they will be kicked out of the country.
“Faculty who holds green cards involved in any kind of advocacy that could be interpreted as unwelcome by the Trump administration are absolutely afraid of the impact on immigrant status,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine University.
Dubal, a general advisor to the American Association of University Professors, says some international faculty members are currently avoiding publishing articles in peer review, discussion, academic research and peer-reviewed journals.
“We literally don’t hear them. There’s a silence that has a huge impact on the vitality of higher education,” Dubal said. “People are very scary.”
First arrest
The first publicly known arrest occurred last Saturday when a federal immigrant agent was arrested. Mahmoud KhalilHe is a prominent Palestinian activist and outspoken graduate student in the lobby of his apartment near the Columbia campus.
Halil became the face of President Donald Trump’s drive to punish anti-Semitic and anti-American protests that swept US campus last year. Halil, a legal US resident with a green card, Federal detention complex In Louisiana.
Students and faculty members who participated in the Colombian protests criticize Israel and argue that claiming Palestine’s rights is not anti-Semitism. Some Jewish students and faculty say that anti-Israel rhetoric made them feel safe.
Civil rights advocates say Halil’s detention is an attack on freedom of speech. But the ongoing arrests send a broader message that opposing the Trump administration will help you get out of the country, said Brian House, a senior staff lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“If the administration can do this to Mr. Khalil for his speech on Palestine, it can do it to non-US citizens who have achieved status on the global issues of Hot Button, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, tariffs on US allies, and the rise of far-right parties in Europe,” he said.
That concern is spreading outside New York.
A Bangladeshi student at Louisiana State University agreed to speak on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted, and said that since his first arrest in Colombia he has stopped posting about political things on social media. She is afraid to lose her green card.
“I feel it’s not safe to share these things anymore because I fear that a “authoritarian regime” without quotation marks may be hiding in social media posts,” the student said. When she lived in Bangladesh, she said, people could be arrested. Challenge social media. “What I’m afraid of is the same situation in the US.”
Advice from the university
Some schools encourage international students to be aware of what they say publicly and see what they say online. Several international students on campuses at various universities said they don’t like to not speak to reporters because they are concerned about the immigration situation.
Administrators at the Columbia School of Journalism have warned non-US citizens of their vulnerability to arrest or deportation.
“No one can protect you, these are times of danger,” school dean Jelani Cobb explained the comment in a post Thursday. “I would do everything on my own to protect my right to report with journalists, but I said I had no ability to stop DHS from putting their safety at risk.”
At the University of California, Davis, the Global Affairs Program has updated its website with guidance on the first amendment and freedom of speech advice for non-US citizens.
“Although international students and academics have a wide range of rights to free speech and legal gatherings, please note that arrest or detention by law enforcement could result in current and/or future immigration outcomes,” the school said on its website. “Each person needs to take appropriate care and make use of their best judgment.”
Escalation after Halil’s arrest
This week, the activities of immigration authorities in Colombia escalated quickly.
Rekhaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying student visas, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday. The former student visa ended in January 2022 due to “slow attendance,” the department said. She was previously arrested for protesting in Colombia in April 2024, the agency added.
The Trump administration was also said to have “advocated violence and terrorism” by Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia University. Srinivasan has chosen “Self-abolition” The department said Tuesday, five days after her visa was revoked.
The president warns his arrest and attempts to deport Halil will be “the first of many.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Friday that more student visas are likely to be revoked in the coming days.
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