The Trump administration argues some international students have improperly participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Panic on college campuses as Trump cancels international student visas
The Trump administration has cited reasons like roommate disputes and traffic tickets for canceling hundreds of international student visas.
- Nineteen Democratic state attorneys general are challenging the Trump administration’s revocation of approximately 700 international student visas.
- The AGs argue the revocations, often based on protests or pro-Palestinian stances, violate students’ free speech rights.
- The administration claims the students harbor ill-will towards the U.S. and should leave the country.
Nineteen Democratic state attorneys general are asking a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from cancelling hundreds of international student visas ‒ a move that’s sent shockwaves through the collegiate community.
Although there’s been no comprehensive accounting of how many students have seen their visas revoked, in some cases weeks before graduation, Trump officials say they have been in part targeting students they accuse of harboring ill-will toward the United States.
In some cases, the students participated in protests or otherwise gained attention for pro-Palestinian stances. Other visas appear to have been cancelled over paperwork issues or traffic violations.
The amicus brief filed April 11 by AGs from Arizona, California, Michigan and New York, among others, says an estimated 700 international students have lost their visas. The cancellations have forced students to leave the United States essentially on the spot, in some cases sending university administrators scrambling to figure out how to help them complete their degrees from their home countries.
Campus protests about Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza sparked marches, encampments and sit-ins last year, but those have essentially halted since Trump took office in January. The AGs accuse the Trump administration of chilling free speech and scaring non-citizens into the shadows of society though ideologically motivated deportations.
“Our democracy depends on the freedom to think, to speak, and to learn without fear,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “No one should face detention or deportation for exercising their right to free speech ‒ not in New York, or in any other state in our nation. This policy is a dangerous overreach, and I will not allow fear and censorship to replace freedom and opportunity.”
1.5 million international students in the U.S.
James and Trump have clashed in court for years, and James earlier in the week sued the federal government over an unrelated halt on pandemic-era funding for public schools.
The visa cancellations reflect a small percentage of the estimated 1.5 million international students studying in the United States. According to the federal government, California is home to the largest number of international students, and the most popular majors among international students are computer science, language, and business administration and management.
People from India and China represent the largest proportion of international students, accounting for about half of the overall enrollment, according to federal officials.
The attorneys general accuse Trump of weaponizing the immigration system to punish students who peacefully protested or wrote commentary opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza, which are typically protected First Amendment rights. The AGs filed their brief in support of a March 25 lawsuit brought by the American Association of University Professors.
The AGs signing the brief also include those representing Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
Is it okay to target students for protesting?
Trump and other administration officials say international students should be studying, not protesting, and argue some of the protesters crossed the line into ideological support for Hamas or other terror groups.
Among the highest-profile students targeted for immigration detention are Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil, whose green card was revoked and has been held in a Louisiana detention facility for a month, and Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents as she walked down the sidewalk in a town outside Boston.
Khalil, who has since graduated and is awaiting the birth of his first child, was a student-leader of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, and Öztürk, a PhD candidate whose research focuses on how young adults can use social media in positive ways, wrote a campus newspaper essay supporting Palestinians. Federal officials have not provided specific evidence to argue either was a threat to the United States.
“The aggressive tactics employed to enforce the Ideological Deportation Policy lay bare its true intent: intimidating noncitizens into silence,” the lawsuit argues. “A sudden loss of a visa or status may result in the individual being immediately deportable. But ICE is not merely serving non-violent students with deportation notices. Instead, ICE is resorting to alarming displays of power.”
New York University professor Robert Cohen, who studies protest movements, said targeting students because they attended rallies or wrote pro-Palestinan letters is a thinly veiled attempt by Trump to clamp down on dissent.
“It speaks to the issue that Donald Trump and these right-wing people don’t actually believe in free speech,” Cohen said.
The American Council on Education and 15 other higher ed groups have requested a briefing from federal officials regarding the cancellations. The groups noted that Trump has the responsibility and right to safeguard national security but asked for an explanation of the decision-making process.
“Recent actions have contributed to uncertainty and impedes the ability of our institutions to best advise international students and scholars,” the groups wrote in an April 4 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials. “It is important institutions are in a position to reassure international students so they can continue to make exceptional contributions to their campuses, communities, and the nation.”