Ali, a UCLA student, avoided arrests when he joined the pro-Palestinian protest last year when riot police officers demolished the school’s camp in May. An international student who participated in Israel’s campus activities around the Gaza War surged, keeping his vigilance on records that could affect his visa. But he did not hide his actions.
Now, with federal authorities acting on President Trump Directives to expel international student activists He accused him of being an anti-Semitic supporter of “pro-attack” terrorism, and Ali took new preventive measures. He has moved out of the apartment – with the government listed address – and stayed with friends. He attends classes but avoids social activities. He brought a piece of paper with a 24-hour hotline teacher set up for students detained by immigration and customs law enforcement.
As more arrests develop, fear among California international students is growing—frustration as they accuse campus administrators of not doing enough to protect them with the largest number of foreign students in the state, while universities are at the forefront of national activism.
“It’s a matter of time,” Ali said. Ali said he doesn’t want his full name, nationality, study area or age to be published because he’s worried about being tracked. “This is freedom of speech. Isn’t this what this country should be famous for?”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press conference on Thursday to Guyana that the government has conducted extensive reviews of student activists’ visas and has revoked them at least 300 times.
“We do this every day. Whenever I find one of these lunatics, I take their visas,” Rubio said. He added: “I hope at some point we run out because we’ve got all of that, but we’re looking for these lunatics every day, these lunatics are tearing things up.”
Later, he clarified that this was mainly “student visas, some visitors visas” and “some have nothing to do with any protests.”
At UCLA, members of the Palestinian Justice School recently distributed advice to international students: “Don’t say anything on ice. Don’t sign anything. Tell them to talk to your attorney,” it said along with the hotline number. “…Please add a stamp, a foreseeable envelope to someone you trust, and on the arrest ice, you can send an email to remind them of the person you have been detained.”
“Unless you need and make sure someone knows where you are going, international students are told to “don’t go out.” ”
Since the arrest of government agents on March 8 Mahmoud KhalilLast spring, the Trump administration, a former Colombian graduate and protest leader, tried to arrest or expel six additional pro-Palestine foreign students on four campuses: three more in Colombia clusterCornell University and Georgetown University. University of Alabama officials confirmed immigration authorities this week on Thursday Detaining graduate students in Iran. The Trump administration has not said whether he was targeted for pro-Palestinian activism.
Pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil was filmed at Columbia University on April 29, 2024.
(Ted Shaffrey/AP)
Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and its war in Gaza, it is unclear how many international students are part of protests on campus in California. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (UCLA) have more than 27,000 international students – the largest group comes from China and India, although few of them are involved in the protests.
A spokesman for the University of California cited privacy rights to refuse to state whether UCLA student visa or other UC campus visa has been revoked or whether Pro-Palestinian students have been arrested. USC spokesman Lauren Bartlett said she “had no idea anyone affected by USC affiliation.”
A State Department spokesman would not say whether California students have lost their visa status. Activists at UCLA, USC and other Southern California schools at the campground last spring said they didn’t know if visa cancellations or students were detained.
Many known cases across the country are fighting in court, with the Trump administration blocking arrests or being deported or transferred by detainees.
In one example, a Indian graduate student in Colombia fled to Canada this month after studying a government agent seeking her request. Srinivasan was detained last year as part of the protests but insisted that she was not an activist and was only arrested on a mass scale. The charges were later dropped. Also in Colombia, 21-year-old student Yunseo Chung won a temporary probation in court this week after the Trump administration tried to revoke her green card and deport her. Chung, who participated in the pro-Palestinian protests, was not a prominent protester like Khalil.
One of the latest cases is Capture on video. Plainclothes agents arrested Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk from Turkey, who arrested her on the sidewalk on Tuesday to visit friends with her traditionally fast-destroying friends during Ramadan.
Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by the Department of Homeland Security in Somerville, Massachusetts.
(Associated Press)
Last year, her profile appeared on Canary Mission, a website where blacklisted people and groups accused anti-Semitism. The group, along with another group called Betar US, claimed to promote the name of the personal detained by the Trump administration. The White House has not confirmed that these organizations are sources of information.
The Department of Homeland Security list says Oztulk will be held in Louisiana.
Tensions increase
The potential for immigration enforcement against international student activists in California has expanded tensions on campus, which is already under increasing pressure with Trump.
Fierce attacks on federal orders, threat reduction and investigations relate to Trump’s political agenda Avoid diversity, equity and inclusive practices He said he illegally favors ethnic minorities. The Trump administration has also focused sharply on anti-Semitism allegations related to the pro-Palestinian university protests, threatening to draw federal funds from schools that do not meet its unspecified standards to combat anti-Semitism.
The Ministry of Justice is Investigate UC system The federal task force for anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism said it would visit UCLA, UC Berkeley, the University of Southern California and seven other U.S. campuses. A spokesperson for the campus and Justice Department declined to say when the visits were made.
Trump administration $400 million canceled Federal grants were made this month at Columbia University in New York to deal with its handling of protests. To get the money back, Colombia gave federal demands by adopting a formal definition of anti-Semitism, hiring new security personnel, changing protest and discipline policies, and placing the Eastern Research Department under “academic takeover.”
“It’s ridiculous,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and First Amendment scholar. It happened in his backyard During last year’s law school event.
“The idea that the government wants to kill speech is not new. But what is doing now is,” he said. “Whether you are a citizen or a visitor, it doesn’t matter if people think free speech or agree with Hamas’ freedom of speech.”
At UCLA, undergraduate Ruksana Ali, who has nothing to do with the person previously quoted, attended a rally this month to support Khalil and foreign student activists. Ruksana Ali said her university recently launched a new initiative to target anti-Semitism, “misplaced” priorities when speech stifled.
“The campus is bent backward to appease Trump, just as he follows students. We believe that UCLA retreated and watched violence against us last year,” said Ruksana Ali, a U.S. citizen, who mentioned the hour-long failure of police to stop the mob attacks on the camp on April 30 and May 1 last year.
Demonstrators Sue the University this month Among other complaints, they were illegally arrested and unprotected in exercising freedom of speech. A group of Jewish students and faculty members, too Prosecuted UCLA at campaccusing the university of anti-Semitism.
The UCLA and the University of Southern California (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (UCLA) have not issued public guidance on how to respond to immigration-related student protesters’ actions, although both campuses generally involve policies on immigration enforcement.
UCLA Follow Rules for UC range It said campus police will “do not work together with federal immigration law enforcement to investigate, detain or arrest individuals in order to violate federal immigration laws.” Campus areas open to the public are also open to federal immigration law enforcement officers.
At USC Instruct community members If an immigration agent appears, please contact the Department of Public Safety or the Office of General Counsel. The university has designated a professor at its immigration law clinic as a resource for those facing arrests.
Jewish teachers on both campuses also wrote to administrators this month expressing concerns about the threat of deportation and citing an anti-Semitism executive order on January 29, Trump signed a call for universities to call for “surveillance of alien students and reporting activities.”
“It is an anti-Semitist weapon for attacking intellectual and academic freedom and the university’s anti-Semitism weapon.” A letter Signed by 77 Jewish professors from the University of Southern California. “In addition, it does not clearly distinguish between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, which will have a shocking impact on freedom of speech.”
At UCLA, there are 66 Jewish teachers Sign a similar request Send to their prime minister.
“We reject all appeals to assist in compiling a list of people arrested, deported or disciplined, and without ambiguity any attempt to invoke our name to harass, expel, expel, arrest or expel members of our campus community. These actions do not protect Jews, but are direct attacks on democracy and freedom of speech,” the letter said.
Professors on campus said they heard no response from administrators.
Kuhn, a public health professor who signed the UCLA letter, said he met several foreign student activists and was worried that faculty and staff would not know about students’ protection.
“We believe efforts will be made to arrest people, including those who did not protest,” Kuhn said, who shared with students the “Know Your Rights” card.
Kuhn visited UCLA camp in the spring and supported its goal – prompting the university to cancel investment in weapons companies and contact Israel – he said he did not see student protesters as dangerous. Instead, the Trump administration launched a “witch hunt”, he said.
