"Guests Disrupting Higher Education Institutions"
Targeting Students Occupying Campuses and Libraries
Over 4,000 International Students Had Visas Revoked Between March and April This Year

In a sweeping escalation of immigration enforcement tied to campus activism, the Trump administration has made clear its intent to continue revoking the student visas of foreign nationals participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations across U.S. universities. Framing their actions as a matter of national policy and campus security, officials have positioned these revocations as necessary measures to curb what they characterize as disruptions to American higher education and threats to U.S. diplomatic interests.

The crackdown comes amid a rising tide of anti-Israel protests that have engulfed university campuses nationwide—protests fueled not just by solidarity with Palestinians, but by frustration over the U.S. government's unequivocal support for Israel’s military actions. At the center of this controversy are thousands of international students whose legal residency in the United States now hangs in the balance.

Visas Revoked, Students Targeted: A New Line of Enforcement

On May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly reaffirmed the administration’s hardline stance during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “Visas are not a right, but a privilege,” Rubio declared. “We will keep canceling the visas of those who come here as guests and disrupt our institutions of higher education.” His remarks came in response to concerns raised by Senator Chris Van Hollen, who warned that the visa revocations appeared to violate constitutional rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Rubio dismissed those criticisms, asserting that the administration’s actions specifically targeted individuals engaged in extreme forms of protest—students, he said, who attempted to occupy libraries or incite violence on campus.

The policy has already affected thousands. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, 4,736 international students had their visas canceled or their U.S. residency status revoked between March and April 2025 alone. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has also unilaterally removed some students from the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), erasing their legal recognition in the U.S. without prior notification.

Two high-profile arrests exemplify the policy in action. On March 8, ICE detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University identified as a leader of anti-Israel demonstrations. Just over a week later, on March 17, Badr Khan Suri, a postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University, was arrested on accusations of spreading Hamas propaganda and fomenting anti-Israel sentiment on social media.

The Trump administration has made no apologies for these actions. Officials have stated that foreign students who participate in disruptive or ideologically charged protests are interfering with U.S. foreign policy objectives—particularly those aimed at curbing the spread of antisemitism—and therefore warrant deportation.

From Columbia to Coast-to-Coast: A Protest Movement Gains Momentum

The wave of campus protests began last year at Columbia University and has since spread to academic institutions across the country, from New York University and Yale to Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, and even universities in Washington, D.C. While the immediate trigger was Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, what has fueled the student protests is the scale of Israel’s military retaliation, which has caused extensive civilian casualties in Gaza, coupled with unwavering U.S. support for Israel’s actions.

A key turning point came when Columbia University President Nemat Shafik testified before Congress. Asked to outline how the university would respond to pro-Palestinian activism, Shafik assured lawmakers that antisemitism would not be tolerated on campus. For many student activists, her remarks signaled an attempt to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. In defiance, pro-Palestinian students launched an unsanctioned sit-in near her office, erecting tents and refusing to leave. When university administrators called on the police to disperse the protesters, the confrontation only galvanized broader national support.

Students now demand that their universities divest from companies tied to the Israeli military—particularly arms manufacturers—and end all investment and research collaborations with firms seen as complicit in the war. These calls reflect a deeper concern: that pro-Israel financial interests, including prominent Jewish donors, are wielding outsized influence over university governance and policy.

As the protests gained momentum, they evolved into a broader challenge to the institutional ties between American academia and Israeli-linked corporations. University administrations, caught between political pressure from donors and growing unrest on campuses, now face a dilemma—either heed student demands or risk further escalation and political backlash.

Surveillance, Deportation, and the Criminalization of Dissent

While the visa revocations themselves have drawn criticism, what has shocked civil liberties advocates even more is the extent of surveillance preceding these actions. According to The New York Times, ICE agents began tracking the online activities of pro-Palestinian student activists long before any direct legal violations occurred. This included monitoring social media for posts sympathetic to Hamas or critical of Israel, and compiling data on individuals who interacted with or shared such content.

ICE’s involvement in this capacity is unusual. Traditionally focused on major crimes like drug trafficking and human smuggling, ICE agents have now been tasked with intelligence-gathering on students—a mission shift that critics say transforms civil protest into a national security threat. Under the Trump administration, pro-Palestinian activism has been rebranded as a form of “terror threat,” justifying the use of government resources typically reserved for criminal investigations.

The ICE probe appears to have directly influenced Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest. After identifying him as a protest leader, ICE submitted an intelligence report to the State Department. Federal agents then raided Columbia University’s campus, detained Khalil, and issued a deportation order. Born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Khalil had secured permanent U.S. residency through legal academic channels and had no criminal record. Yet he is now portrayed by officials as a potential terrorist—an accusation that civil rights organizations call an unjust act of political labeling.

Critics argue that the real purpose behind these measures is not safety, but suppression. By targeting foreign students under the guise of immigration enforcement, the Trump administration is, in effect, using government power to silence dissent and stifle opposition. As The New York Times editorialized, “Trump has covertly used the powers of government to suppress dissenting opinions.”