The Trump administration’s crackdown on overseas college students and school who’ve voiced help for the Palestinian trigger has escalated, with universities throughout the nation seeing college students both arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or having their visas revoked.
At the very least eight worldwide college students and professors, all of whom have had inexperienced playing cards or pupil visas, have been focused by ICE, starting at Columbia College and continuing to varsities together with Georgetown College, Cornell College and the College of Alabama.
That quantity, nonetheless, may very well be a tiny fraction of the particular depend after Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Thursday the State Division has revoked the visas of no less than 300 overseas college students.
The federal authorities has pulled out a hardly ever used regulation that claims the secretary of State can deport a noncitizen who threatens U.S. overseas coverage, although solely an immigration decide can take away a inexperienced card. The usage of that obscure regulation is being challenged in court docket.
Listed below are the highest-profile circumstances among the many Trump administration’s crackdown on school campuses:
Mahmoud Khalil
The primary and thus far most distinguished goal was Mahmoud Khalil, the lead negotiator of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian encampment who graduated in December.
Khalil, a inexperienced card holder, was detained March 8 at an residence constructing owned by Columbia.
The federal government initially argued he threatened the overseas coverage of the nation, however later added that Khalil didn’t disclose he labored for sure organizations, such because the United Nations’s Palestinian refugee company, referred to as UNWRA, on his utility to change into a everlasting resident.
“The additional charges the government filed last week are completely meritless. They show that the government has no case whatsoever on this bogus charge that his presence in the U.S. would have adverse foreign policy consequences,” stated Marc Van Der Hout, whose agency is representing Khalil. “This case is purely about First Amendment protected activity and speech, and U.S. citizens and permanent residents alike are free to say what they wish about what is going on in the world.”
Khalil was transferred to Louisiana, making it troublesome for his legal professionals to contact him as they attempt to get him launched, as his spouse, a U.S. citizen, is ready to provide beginning subsequent month.
A listening to within the case is ready for Friday.
Trump has repeatedly cheered Khalil’s arrest as the primary “of many to come.”
“If you happen to help terrorism, together with the slaughtering of harmless males, ladies, and kids, your presence is opposite to our nationwide and overseas coverage pursuits, and you aren’t welcome right here. We count on each one among America’s Schools and Universities to conform,” he stated on social media.
Alireza Doroudi
College of Alabama doctoral pupil Alireza Doroudi, who has a pupil visa, was arrested March 25.
“The University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student has been detained off campus by federal immigration authorities. Federal privacy laws limit what can be shared about an individual student,” the college stated.
It isn’t clear what the Iranian nationwide is charged with or the place he was taken. It’s also unknown if he was a part of the pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
“Our fears have come to pass. Donald Trump, Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community,” the College of Alabama Faculty Democrats stated in an announcement.
Rumeysa Ozturk
Tufts College Ph.D. candidate Rumeysa Ozturk, a inexperienced card holder, was additionally detained March 25 by ICE, with footage of her plainclothes arrest rapidly going viral on social media.
A decide dominated Ozturk, a Turkish nationwide, is to remain within the nation for now, and her legal professionals say she was taken to Louisiana.
Ozturk was a co-author in an article run by the college newspaper that stated Tufts wanted to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”
It’s unclear what she is charged with; the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) stated in an announcement to a number of retailers that Ozturk was “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” however didn’t give particulars of these actions.
Tufts stated it had no prior data the arrest was going to occur.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was amongst those that spoke out on the case after footage of it was extensively shared. The video confirmed half a dozen masked brokers encompass Ozturk on the road, take her cellphone away as she screamed, handcuff her and usher her right into a van.
“The video is really chilling, and this should matter to every single American,” Murphy stated.
Yunseo Chung
Yunseo Chung, a inexperienced card holder and third-year pupil at Columbia College, preemptively bought a decide to conform to quickly cease deportation efforts by the Trump administration she came upon authorities had a warrant for her arrest.
Chung, who was initially from South Korea and has been within the U.S. since she was 7, sued after she discovered the administration was making an attempt to revoke her standing.
She has been concerned in pro-Palestinian protests however was not a pacesetter within the efforts.
She was arrested at protests earlier than, however Columbia exonerated her throughout disciplinary proceedings.
“Yunseo Chung has engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by NYPD during a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College. She is being sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws. Chung will have an opportunity to present her case before an immigration judge,” a senior Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson stated.
ICE brokers apparently sought Chung at each her household’s house and her dorm. Her attorneys say she continues to be within the nation, although they’ve declined to specify the place.
“ICE’s shocking actions against Ms. Chung form part of a larger pattern of attempted U.S. government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech. The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza or the pro-Israeli policies of the U.S. government and other U.S. institutions,” her lawsuit filed March 24 reads.
Rasha Alawieh
Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor from Brown College’s medical faculty, was deported the weekend of March 15 even after orders got by a decide to maintain her within the nation.
Alawieh was deported to Lebanon, with Customs and Border Patrol saying the brokers who deported her weren’t conscious of the court docket order on the time.
“At no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order,” court docket filings from the federal authorities stated.
The deportation got here when Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was making an attempt to return to the U.S. from a visit to the Center East, the place DHS says she went to the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, “a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah.”
Alawieh’s unique attorneys withdrew from the case, though they didn’t say why, and he or she has since needed to purchase a brand new authorized group.
Badar Khan Suri
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian nationwide and postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown College, was arrested by ICE in Arlington, Va., on March 17 and was informed his visa was revoked.
Homeland Safety Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” however she provided no additional particulars of his exercise.
A spokesperson for Georgetown stated the college was “not aware” of any felony exercise by Suri and it has not been given a purpose for the detention.
His lawyer is arguing Suri is a goal as a result of Palestinian heritage of his spouse, who’s a U.S. citizen, in addition to his crucial views of Israel.
Ranjani Srinivasan
Ranjani Srinivasan, a doctoral pupil in city planning at Columbia and an Indian nationwide, had her pupil visa revoked March 5.
Srinivasan left the nation earlier than ICE may detain her in a transfer DHS has known as “self-deporting.”
“The moment Mahmoud got arrested, it sent shockwaves across the Columbia community. He’s a green card holder,” she informed Al Jazeera. “That’s after I realized I’ve no rights on this system in any respect. It was solely a matter of time earlier than they caught maintain of me.”
DHS accused her of involvement in “in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization,” with little particulars on specifics.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem stated in an announcement.
Momodou Taal
Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. pupil from Cornell College, was requested to give up to ICE and had his pupil visa taken away.
Taal has been very energetic within the pro-Palestinian motion and was suspended from the college final yr over his actions. The college ended up reinstating him.
Taal gained notoriety on campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel, when he posted on the social platform X “colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary” and “Glory to the resistance!”
He later informed CNN that “clearly categorically I abhor the killing of all civilians no matter where they are and who does it” however felt it was “racist, Islamophobic that before I’m allowed to have a view on genocide, I have to condemn a terrorist organization.”
Taal filed a lawsuit towards the federal government March 15, a day after his visa was revoked, difficult the chief orders the Trump administration is utilizing to justify the crackdown on overseas college students.
“And given how they went after Mahmoud, who has a similar fact pattern, I didn’t want to be a sitting duck for eventually myself or other international students. So, I found the lawsuit as a form of protection seeking national injunction to challenge the constitutionality of these executive orders,” Taal beforehand informed The Hill.
A decide dominated towards Taal in that case Thursday, saying the court docket doesn’t have jurisdiction and the scholar didn’t set up “imminent or ongoing threat to their constitutional rights that could be appropriately remedied by the requested restraints. Any future harm alleged in their affidavits appears to be speculative and even moot because of the revocation of Taal’s visa.”
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Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-03-27 20:17:00
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