In the period of a week, a silence has descended from higher education in the United States.
International students and faculty have seen the growing offensive in Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University with apprehension. Some say they are familiar with government repressions, but they never waited for American university campuses.
The Elite University of New York City has been the focus of the Trump administration effort to deport foreigners who participated in pro-palestinian demonstrations in universities last year.
Federal immigration agents have arrested two foreigners – One of them a student – who protested last year in Columbia. They have He revoked the visa of another student, who fled from the United States this week. The agents of the National Security Department also registered the residences on the Campus of two Students of Columbia on Thursday, but did not arrest any arrest.
Republican party officials have warned that it is only the beginning, saying that more students are expected to be revoked in the next few days.
The Postgraduate School of Columbia’s journalism issued a statement that reports “an alarming cold” among its foreign students last week.
“Many of our international students have been afraid to come to classes and events on campus,” said the statement signed by “the Faculty of Columbia Journalism of the School of Journalism.”
He added: “They are right to be worried.”
International students and teachers in the United States say they are afraid to express opinions or stand out on campus for fear of being expelled from the country.
“The members of the Faculty of the Green Letters involved in any type of defense that can be interpreted as not welcome by the Trump administration, are absolutely terrified by the implications for their immigration state,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Dubal, who is also a general advisor of the American Association of University Teachers, says that some international professors are now avoiding speech, debate, academic research and publication articles in pairs reviewed.
“We are literally not listening to their voices. There is a silencing that has a great impact on the vitality of higher education, ”said Dubal. “People are very scared.”
The first publicly known arrest occurred last Saturday, when federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud KhalilAn outstanding Palestinian activist and open student, in the lobby of his apartment building near the Columbia Campus.
Khalil has become the face of President Donald Trump’s impulse to punish what he calls anti -Semitic and Anti -American protests that swept the United States campuses last year. Khalil, an American legal resident with a green card, is stopped in a Federal Detention Complex In Louisiana.
The students and the faculty who participated in the protests in Columbia have insisted on criticizing Israel and advocating for Palestinian rights is not anti -Semitic. Some Jewish students and teachers say that anti-Israel rhetoric made them feel insecure.
Civil rights defenders say that Khalil’s arrest is an assault on freedom of expression. But the ongoing arrests send a broader message that being disagreed with the Trump administration could take it out of the country, said Brian Hauss, principal lawyer of the American Union of Civil Liberties.
“If the administration can do this to Mr. Khalil due to the discourse on Palestine, it can do it to any non-American citizen who assumes the position on the global problems of Hot-Button, including the war between Russia and Ukraine, tariffs imposed against US allies or the emergence of extreme right-right political parties in Europe,” he said.
That concern has extended out of New York.
A Bangladesh student at Louisiana State University, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity for fear of being attacked by the authorities, said he has stopped publishing anything political thing on social networks since the first arrest in Columbia. She fears losing her green card.
“I feel that it is no longer safe to share those things because I am afraid that an” authoritarian regime “of appointment is stalking about publications on social networks,” said the student. When he lived in Bangladesh, he said that people could be arrested by Publish dissent in social networks. “What I fear is a similar situation in the United States.”
Some schools have advised international students to be cautious about what they say publicly and see what they say online. Several international students in a variety of university campuses said they preferred not to talk to a journalist for concern about their immigration status.
The administrators of the Columbia Graduate Journalism School have warned students who are not US citizens about their vulnerability to arrest or deportation.
“No one can protect you, these are dangerous times,” said the school dean, Jelani Cobb, in a position on Thursday on Bluesky explaining the comment. “I continued to say that I would do everything in my possession to defend our journalists and their right to inform, but that none of us had the ability to prevent DHS from endangering their safety.”
At the University of California, Davis, the Global Affairs Program has updated its website with guidance on the first amendment and advice on freedom of expression for non -American citizens.
“While international students and academics have broad rights to freedom of expression and the Legal Assembly, keep in mind that being arrested or detained by the Police can trigger current and/or future immigration consequences,” says the school on its website. “Each person must have adequate attention and use their best judgment.”
The activities of the Immigration authorities in Columbia were quickly intensified this week.
Leqaa Kordia, a West Bank Palestinian, was arrested by immigration officers for exaggerating his student visa, the Department of National Security said on Friday. The former student’s visa was fired in January 2022 for “lack of assistance,” the department said. He was previously arrested for his participation in Columbia in April 2024, the agency added.
The Trump administration also revoked the Visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and a doctoral student at Columbia University, allegedly “advocating violence and terrorism.” Srinivasan opted for “Self -sport” On Tuesday, five days after his visa was revoked, said the department.
The president warned that Khalil’s arrest and deportation attempt will be the “first of many.” The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told journalists on Friday that more students’ visas would probably be revoked in the coming days.
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