Ali, a UCLA student who participated in the pro-Palestinian protest last year, avoided arrest when riot police demolished the school’s camp last May. International students who participated in the surge in campus activities regarding Israeli war in Gaza were wary of having records that could affect his visa. But he would not hide his behaviorism otherwise.
Ali has now taken new precautions as federal authorities are accusing him of being a supporter of anti-Semitic “pro-Ama” terrorism, as he will act on President Trump’s direction to send international student activists. He moved out of his apartment – an address listed with the government – and with a friend. He takes part in class but avoids social events. He carries a paper with a 24-hour hotline teacher number set up for students detained by immigration and customs enforcement.
As more arrests unfold, fears are growing among international students in California – and frustration accusing campus managers of not enough to protect them in states with the largest population of foreign students in the country and in universities, which are at the forefront of national activity.
“It’s only a matter of time before you get here,” Ali said. “This is free speech. Isn’t this supposed to be known to this country?”
At a press conference Thursday, when he visited Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government has launched a broad review of student activists’ visas and has revoked at least 300.
“We do that every day. Every time we find one of these crazy people, I remove their visa,” Rubio said. He added: “We’ve removed all of them, so we hope we’ve exhausted at some point, but we’re looking for these madmen who’s tearing things apart every day.”
He later revealed that it was “mainly student visas, some visitor visas” and “not related to protests.”
At UCLA, members of the Palestinian Justice faculty have recently distributed advice to international students. “Don’t say anything to the ice. Don’t sign anything. Tell me to speak to your lawyer,” he said along with his hotline number. “…If an ice arrest occurs, have an engraved envelope engraved on someone you trust with. You can send an email to warn you that you have been detained.”
“They’re also making a difference in public health,” said Randall Kuhn, UCLA professor of public health who joined the protesters last year.
Since government agents arrested Colombian alumni and protest leader Mahmoud Khalil last spring on March 8, the Trump administration has attempted to arrest or deport at least six Palestinian foreign students on four campuses. On Thursday, University of Alabama officials confirmed that the Immigration Bureau had detained an Iranian graduate student this week. The Trump administration has not said whether he is a target of pro-Palestinian behaviorism.
Propalestinan activist Mahmoud Khalil was portrayed at Columbia University on April 29, 2024.
(Ted Shaffrey/AP)
It is unclear how many international students have been part of the pro-Palestinian protests on California campus since Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza on October 7th. UCLA and USC have over 27,000 international students. The largest group is from China and India, but few students are involved in the protest.
Citing privacy, a University of California spokesman declined to state whether a student visa at UCLA or other UC campuses had been revoked or whether there had been immigrant arrests for pro-Palestinian students. USC spokesman Lauren Bartlett said “we are not aware that we are not affected by people who are affiliated with USC.”
A State Department spokesman will not say whether California students have lost their visa status. Activists from UCLA, USC and other Southern California schools said they were swept over the camp last spring.
Many known lawsuits across the country are being fought in court, and the Trump administration has prevented arrests and prevented them from initiating deportation or transferring detained people.
In one instance, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian graduate student in Colombia, fled to Canada this month after learning that government agents had asked for her. Srinivasan was taken to police custody last year as part of the protests, but claims she was not an activist and was only wiped out by mass arrests. The fee was later removed. In Colombia, 21-year-old student Yoon Zeo Chung also earned a temporary reprieve in court this week after the Trump administration attempted to banish her in an attempt to cancel her green card. Chong, who participated in the pro-Palestinian protests, was not a prominent protester like Khalil.
One of the most recent cases was captured on video. Plaincross agents arrested Lu Mesa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University on the sidewalk on Tuesday, walking to meet a traditional fast broken friend during the Islamic month of Ramadan.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, is being detained by a Department of Homeland Security agent in Summerville, Massachusetts.
(AP News)
Her profile appeared in Canary Mission last year after Ozturk wrote a critical criticism of Israel. This blacklists people and groups who denounce anti-Semitism. The group, along with another group called Betar Us, is credited with the Trump administration for promoting the names of individuals detained. The White House does not review the organization as a source of information.
The Department of Homeland Security’s listing office said Oztalc is being held in Louisiana.
Improve tension
The possibility of immigration enforcement against California international student activists has amplified tensions on campuses that are already tackling increasing pressure from Trump.
The onslaught of federal orders, fundraising threats and investigations are tied to Trump’s political agenda that says he illegally supports racial minorities by diversity, equity and inclusive practices. The Trump administration has also focused seriously on anti-Semitism allegations related to the Palestinian protests, threatening to withdraw federal money from schools that do not meet unspecified standards for combating anti-Semitism.
The Justice Department is investigating the UC system on alleged anti-Semitism, and says the Federal Task Force on Anti-Semitism will visit UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC and seven other US campuses. A spokesman for the campus and the Department of Justice declined to say when those visits will take place.
The Trump administration cancelled a $400 million federal grant to Columbia University in New York this month in response to its handling of protests. Colombia has given federal demands by adopting a formal definition of anti-Semitism to get back money, hiring new security guards, changing policies of protest and discipline, and placing the Middle Eastern research division at “academic receivers.”
“That’s ridiculous,” said Irwin Kemelinsky, the UC Berkeley dean of law and first revision scholar, who is critical of several pro-Palestinian protests, including those that took place in his backyard at last year’s law school events.
“The idea that the government wants to curb speech is nothing new, but some of the things that are happening right now are,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a citizen or a visitor. Even if people are offensive of that freedom of speech or support Hamas, there’s freedom of speech.”
At UCLA, undergraduate Luksanaari, who has no connection to the person he cited previously, attended a rally this month to support Khalil and foreign student activists. Ruksana Ali said her university, which recently launched a new initiative on the fight against anti-Semitism, had a “misguided” priority when her speech was suppressed.
“The campus is bent backwards to appease Trump when he comes after his students. I don’t think that’s different at UCLA, where he stood up last year and saw violence against us,” said U.S. citizen Luxana Ali. She mentioned hours of mistakes by police that stopped mob attacks on the camp on April 30th and May 1st last year.
Protesters sued the university this month, among other complaints, claiming that they had been illegally arrested and not protected while exercising their freedom of speech. A group of Jewish students and faculty members sued UCLA to the camp, claiming that the university had enabled anti-Semitic discrimination.
Although UCLA and USC have not issued public guidance on how to address immigration-related behavior against student protesters, both campuses have a general immigration enforcement policy.
UCLA follows UC-wide rules that say campus police will not make a joint effort to investigate, detain or arrest individuals for violations of federal immigration enforcement agencies and federal immigration laws. The campus area, open to the public, is also open to federal immigration enforcement officers.
At USC, if immigrants appear, community members will be instructed to contact the Public Safety Agency or the General Counsel office. The university has designated immigration law clinic professors as a resource for those facing arrests.
Jewish faculty members on both campuses wrote to administrators this month expressing concerns over the threat of deportation.
“It uses anti-Semitism as a weapon, attacks intellectual and academic freedom, and the university is a large author,” said a letter signed by 77 Jewish professors at USC. “And that doesn’t clearly distinguish between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
At UCLA, 66 Jewish teachers have signed a similar plea sent to the Prime Minister.
“We resist all calls to help us compile a list of people subject to arrest, deportation, or discipline, and reject without excluding attempts to call members of campus communities for harassment, exile, arrest or deportation, saying these actions are a direct attack on Jews and democracy and freedom of speech.
A campus professor said he had not received a response from the administrator.
Kuhn, a public health professor who signed the UCLA letter, said he knows several foreign student activists and is concerned that faculty and staff are not aware of student protection.
“We feel there is an effort to arrest people, including those who did not protest,” Kuhn said. He shares “know your rights” cards with students alongside other faculty and students.
Kuhn, who visited UCLA’s camp in the spring and supported the goal, urged the university to cancel investments in arms companies and ties with Israel, but said he did not view student protesters as dangerous. Instead, he said the Trump administration had begun a “witch hunt.”
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