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Activist deportations in the second Trump presidency

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During the second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States pursued a policy of targeting political dissidents, particularly pro-Palestinian international students and academics, for deportation.[1][2][3][4] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimates that over 300 student visas have been revoked as of March 27, 2025.[5][6]

Background

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Further information: Deportation in the second presidency of Donald Trump and Bouarfa v. Mayorkas

In August 2015, during his 2016 campaign, Trump proposed the mass deportation of illegal immigrants as a part of his immigration policy.[7] He proposed a "Deportation Force" to carry out this plan, modeled after the 1950s-era "Operation Wetback" program during the Dwight Eisenhower administration that ended following a congressional investigation.[8] He returned to this idea during his 2024 presidential campaign, and blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and has promised to deport both.[9] To achieve the goal of deporting millions per year, Trump stated his intent to expand deportations without due process, which would be accomplished by the expedited removal authorities of 8 U.S. Code § 1225; invoking the Alien Enemies Act within the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; and invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military to apprehend migrants and thus bypass the Posse Comitatus Act.[10]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would be expanded to include workplace raids and sweeps in public places. Following arrest, Stephen Miller has stated that illegal immigrants would be taken to "large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas", to be held in internment camps prior to deportation. Trump told a rally audience in September 2024 that the deportation effort "will be a bloody story."[11][12]

Use of social media to identify potential deportees

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The administration is reportedly using an artificial intelligence "catch and revoke" program to scrape social media posts and identify students who allegedly support Hamas.[13] A number of detained and deported activists have been targeted by doxing campaigns prior to their arrest.[14][15][16]

On March 25, the state department issued a directive stating that visa applicants would be ineligible if their social media activity indicated that they were "advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support a designated foreign terrorist organization", and that similar activity could result in the revocation of existing visas.[17]

Targeting of higher education

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The administration has focused its catch and revoke program on foreign students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian speech, characterizing them as pro-Hamas. The government plans to use its Student and Exchange Visitor Program to review institutions of higher education that have had significant pro-Palestinian protests, suggesting that it may decertify those institutions, making them ineligible to enroll student visa holders. Revocation of student visas also threatens a revenue stream for colleges and universities, with one senior Department of Justice official saying "That's one of their biggest cash cows, foreign students."[18]

The American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association have filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing that it is promoting an "ideological-deportation policy" that harms not only those the administration is attempting to deport, but also university communities more generally, and that pursuing students and faculty on the basis of their views is unconstitutional.[19]

Cases

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Rasha Alawieh

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This section is an excerpt from Deportation of Rasha Alawieh § Denial of entry.[edit]
Alawieh visited Lebanon in February 2025 to see relatives.[20] While in Lebanon, she attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah.[21] According to a transcript of her airport re-entry interview, this was because of Nasrallah's religious position in the Shia community, and not due to support of his politics.[22] On March 17, Department of Defense authorities responded alleging that Alawieh had been denied re-entry after they found "sympathetic photos and videos" of Nasrallah, Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah militants "in her cell phone's deleted items folder".[22]

Yunseo Chung

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Chung is a Columbia University student who came to the United States from South Korea at age 7 and is a lawful permanent resident with a "green card". On March 5, she was among a group of protesters arrested during a sit-in at Barnard College to express solidarity with protesting students who had been expelled. On March 10, federal law enforcement told her lawyer that her permanent resident status was being revoked. Agents searched for Chung at her dorm and her parents' home, though she was not there. Chung's lawyer filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the case was assigned to judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, who ruled that Chung could not be detained for the time being.[23][24][25]

Federal agents had searched for Chung at various Columbia residences pursuant to a federal criminal warrant for harboring out-of-status noncitizens. The use of that warrant indicates that the government was likely pursuing a criminal case against Columbia wider than an immigration action against a single person.[26]

Alireza Doroudi

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Alireza Doroudi, a University of Alabama doctoral student from Iran, was arrested by ICE on March 25. Doroudi was studying mechanical engineering on a F-1 visa. Doroudi's lawyer stated that he had not been charged with any crime and had not participated in anti-government protests. The University of Alabama chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine also denied that he had been involved in any protests with their organization. DHS claimed that Doroudi "posed significant national security concerns" but did not provide any further information.[27]

Alfredo Juarez

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On March 27, ICE stopped Alfredo Juarez, a labor organizer on behalf of farm workers in Washington state. ICE agents stopped his car while he was driving his wife to work, broke his window, and dragged him out of the car. Juarez was taken to an ICE facility in Ferndale, and later to ICE's Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma. Juarez's lawyers and community members said that he was targeted for his activism.[28][29]

Mahmoud Khalil

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These paragraphs are an excerpt from Detention of Mahmoud Khalil.[edit]

Mahmoud Khalil, a student activist and lead negotiator for the encampment in the 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations, was taken from his New York City apartment building by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8, 2025.[30][31][32] The agents were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke Khalil's student visa. When the agents were informed that Khalil is a lawful permanent resident, they said this status would be revoked instead.[30] He was transported to LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana.[33] On March 10, a U.S. district judge ordered that the Trump administration not deport Khalil pending judicial review of the arrest.

The detention is the first publicly known deportation effort related to pro-Palestine activism under President Donald Trump, who has threatened to punish students and others he says support Hamas or promote antisemitism.[30][34] Khalil's detention has received widespread backlash from lawyers,[35] members of the Democratic Party, and civil rights organizations, who say it is an attack on freedom of speech and the First Amendment.

There is no criminal charge against Khalil.[36] Instead, the government's argument depends on the Cold War–era Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which provides that migrants in the U.S. may be removed if the Secretary of State believes their presence will have serious negative consequences for U.S. foreign policy.[37][38] Several journalists and human rights organizations have noted the connection between this law and McCarthyism.[39][40]

Leqaa Kordia

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On March 14, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had arrested another Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, for overstaying her visa. Kordia is a Palestinian from the West Bank and had been previously arrested for her involvement in a protest for Gaza. DHS called Kordia a Hamas supporter but did not provide any evidence to support this claim.[41]

Rümeysa Öztürk

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This section is an excerpt from Detention of Rümeysa Öztürk § Detention.[edit]
Several days before Öztürk's detention, the Department of Homeland Security revoked her student visa without notifying her.[42] On March 27, 2025, Öztürk left her home to meet her friends for iftar in Somerville, an Islamic meal during Ramadan.[43] Surveillance footage from the neighborhood showed her walking on the street wearing a hijab and white coat.[44] A man dressed in casual clothing was seen waving at her before stepping in her path to prevent her from walking away. She tried to move past him, but he stopped her again and engaged in a short conversation before grabbing her hands. Then, an another man walked to her and pulled out a concealed police badge on a lanyard before taking her smartphone away.[45][46] As more plainclothed people walked up to her, she screamed and asked, "What's going on?". A plainclothed man can be heard saying, “We’re the police, relax,” while another calms her, saying “OK, it’s fine”.[45] They proceeded to take her backpack away and handcuff her. An unseen bystander can be heard saying: “Is this a kidnapping?”, the planclothed people can be seen responding to him: “We’re the police”, the bystander replied: “You don’t look like it. Why are you hiding your faces?”.[47]

Ranjani Srinivasan

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Srinivasan, an Indian national and Fulbright scholar at Columbia, chose to self-deport after having her visa revoked. She had been previously detained during the Hamilton Hall protests, but all charges were dismissed. Her attorney said she was not a participant in the protests. Srinivasan was also accused without evidence of being a supporter of Hamas.[41][48]

Badar Khan Suri

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Suri, a Georgetown University researcher from India with a student visa, was detained by federal immigration authorities on March 17, 2025. The government revoked his visa, but did not charge him with a crime. He has no criminal record. Suri's lawyer argued in his petition to the court that Suri was targeted because of his US citizen wife's Palestinian heritage and because the government suspects that the couple opposes US foreign policy. A 2018 article about the couple in the Hindustan Times said his wife's father served as a “senior political adviser to the Hamas leadership.” [49]

Momodou Taal

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Taal is a Cornell University graduate student with dual United Kingdom and Gambian citizenship. On March 22, 2025, he was told to surrender himself at the ICE office in Syracuse, New York. Taal's lawyers, fearing that he would be targeted by the Trump administration, preemptively filed a lawsuit asking a New York federal judge to strike down Executive Orders 14188 and 14161 targeting student protestors. Taal's lawyers have said that he has been surveilled by law enforcement.[50]

Taal faced suspension for allegedly attending a protest at Statler Hotel to shut down a career fair where representatives from Boeing and L3Harris were recruiting. Instead of a suspension, which could have impacted his visa status, university officials chose to ban him from campus. [51]

On March 28, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Coombe ruled against Taal, saying that his lawyers had neither established that she had jurisdiction to stop the deportation nor shown that there was any clear threat to his constitutional rights that would be addressed by the lawsuit.[52] [53]

On March 31, Taal announced that he had voluntarily left the United States citing fears for his personal safety. [54]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Tait, Robert (March 25, 2025). "US academic groups sue White House over planned deportations of pro-Gaza students". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  2. ^ Souza, Andy Rose, Gloria Pazmino, Sabrina (March 24, 2025). "Trump administration accuses pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil of hiding info on his green card application". CNN. Retrieved March 26, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Lu, Christina (March 26, 2025). "Trump's Deportations Come to Campus". Foreign Policy. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  4. ^ "A look at who has been detained or deported in a US crackdown on mostly pro-Palestinian protesters". Associated Press. March 28, 2025. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  5. ^ Linton, Caroline (March 27, 2025). "Marco Rubio says 300 student visas have been revoked, including detentions at Tufts, Columbia and more". CBS News. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  6. ^ Gedeon, Joseph (March 27, 2025). "Rubio boasts of canceling more than 300 visas over pro-Palestine protests". The Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  7. ^ Gass, Nick (August 17, 2015). "Trump's immigration plan: Mass deportation". Politico. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017.
  8. ^ Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar (November 27, 2015). "Messy legal process could challenge Trump's mass deportation plan". Fox News.
  9. ^ Phifer, Donica (October 3, 2024). "Trump floats deporting legal Haitian migrants living in Ohio". Axios. Archived from the original on October 5, 2024. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  10. ^ Savage, Charlie; Haberman, Maggie; Swan, Jonathan (November 11, 2023). "Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump's 2025 Immigration Plans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved November 11, 2023. (subscription required)
  11. ^ Brownstein, Ronald (February 8, 2024). "Trump's 'Knock on the Door'". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  12. ^ Graziosi, Graig (September 8, 2024). "Trump says his plan to expel millions of immigrants will be a 'bloody story'". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  13. ^ Patel, Faiza (March 18, 2025). "U.S. AI-Driven "Catch and Revoke" Initiative Threatens First Amendment Rights". Just Security. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  14. ^ "Trump is seeking to deport another academic who is legally in the country, lawsuit says". POLITICO. March 19, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  15. ^ Shapiro, Eliza (March 9, 2025). "Immigration Authorities Arrest Pro-Palestinian Activist at Columbia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  16. ^ Prater, Nia (March 28, 2025). "The Pro-Israel Group That Led to Rumeysa Ozturk's Arrest Canary Mission has a history of putting activists on the Trump administration's radar". New York. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  17. ^ Gedeon, Joseph (March 28, 2025). "US issues broad order to consulates to vet student visas over 'terrorist activity'". The Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  18. ^ Caputo, Marc (March 27, 2025). "Exclusive: Trump's "pro-Hamas" purge could block foreign students from colleges". Axios. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  19. ^ "Academic groups sue Trump administration for arresting students and faculty members linked to pro-Palestinian protests". NBC News. March 26, 2025. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  20. ^ Chehab v. Noem, No. 1:25-cv-10614 (D. Mass.) (United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts March 14. 2025).
  21. ^ Goldstein, Dana; Russell, Jenna (March 17, 2025). "Deported Professor Rasha Alawieh Attended Hezbollah Leader's Funeral, D.H.S. Says". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  22. ^ a b Raymond, Nate (March 17, 2025). "Doctor deported to Lebanon had photos 'sympathetic' to Hezbollah on phone, US says". Reuters.
  23. ^ Hill, Michael; Offenhartz, Jake; Sisak, Michael R. (March 24, 2025). "Columbia student protester who's lived in the US since age 7 sues to stop deportation order". The Associated Press. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  24. ^ Peltz, Jennifer; Hill, Michael (March 25, 2025). "Columbia student protester can't be detained for now as she fights deportation, judge rules". The Associated Press. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  25. ^ "Why Trump's brutal crackdown on free speech is unprecedented in the US". The Guardian.
  26. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E.; Aleaziz, Hamed (March 24, 2025). "Columbia Student Hunted by ICE Sues to Prevent Deportation". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  27. ^ Navarro, Maven. "UA student reportedly detained by ICE". The Crimson White. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  28. ^ Brownstone, Sydney (March 25, 2025). "ICE arrests WA farmworker activist in Sedro-Woolley". The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  29. ^ "ICE Detains Iranian Ph.D. Student in Alabama and Farmworker Union Leader in Washington". Democracy Now!. March 27, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  30. ^ a b c Offenhartz, Jake (March 9, 2025). "Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests". Associated Press. Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  31. ^ "Pro-Palestinian student protester detained by US immigration officials, says lawyer". BBC News. March 10, 2025. Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  32. ^ "ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer says". The Guardian. March 9, 2025. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  33. ^ Chappell, Bill (March 12, 2025). "Mahmoud Khalil case goes to court, spotlighting green card holders' rights". NPR. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  34. ^ "Trump says ICE arrest of Palestinian activist the 1st of 'many to come'". ABC News. March 10, 2025. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  35. ^ Ellison, Sarah (March 13, 2025). "Mahmoud Khalil's arrest violates First Amendment protections, lawyers say". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  36. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E.; Bayya, Anusha (March 12, 2025). "Mahmoud Khalil Has Not Been Allowed to Speak Privately With Lawyers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 12, 2025. Retrieved March 13, 2025. He has not been charged with any crime.
  37. ^ Valdez, Jonah (March 13, 2025). "The Legal Argument That Could Set Mahmoud Khalil Free". The Intercept. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  38. ^ Popli, Nik (March 10, 2025). "What to Know About Mahmoud Khalil and His Green Card Status". TIME. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  39. ^ Silverstein, Andrew (March 7, 2025). "State Department plan to deport 'pro-Hamas' students relies on a 1952 law that targeted Jews". The Forward. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  40. ^ Khalidi, Dima (March 11, 2025). "Mahmoud Khalil's Abduction Is a Red Alert for Universities". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  41. ^ a b Prater, Nia. "Feds Arrest Second Gaza Protester From Columbia". Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  42. ^ Valdez, Jonah (March 30, 2025). "In Trump's America, You Can Be Disappeared for Writing an Op-Ed". The Intercept.
  43. ^ "This student was arrested by masked officials. Here's why it's shocked the US". March 28, 2025 – via www.abc.net.au.
  44. ^ Russel, Jessica (March 26, 2025). "Federal Government Detains International Student at Tufts". The New York Times.
  45. ^ a b "Who is Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts PhD student arrested by US immigration authorities?". Firstpost. March 27, 2025.
  46. ^ Pazmino, Dalia Faheid, Gloria (March 29, 2025). "A PhD student was snatched by masked officers in broad daylight. Then she was flown 1,500 miles away". CNN.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  47. ^ Olivares, José (March 27, 2025). "DoJ lawyers say detained Tufts student was sent to Louisiana before court order" – via The Guardian.
  48. ^ Pazmino, Gloria. "Another Columbia student targeted by ICE says she wasn't involved in protests on the night of her arrest". CNN. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  49. ^ "Trump is seeking to deport another academic who is legally in the country, lawsuit says". POLITICO. March 19, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  50. ^ Rose, Andy (March 21, 2025). "Cornell student protester told to surrender to ICE as he asks judge to block deportation". CNN. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  51. ^ Cornell halts suspension efforts for international student involved in job fair protest, Ithaca Voice, October 10, 2024
  52. ^ "Cornell student activist denied bid to immediately stop the government from trying to deport him". CNN. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  53. ^ "Judge refuses Cornell student's ask to block Trump orders targeting pro-Palestinian protests". The Hill. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  54. ^ Pazmino, Gloria; Musa, Amanda. "Cornell student activist chooses to leave US after judge denies bid to immediately block deportation". CNN. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
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