Can US cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters? It's happening, says legal group
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President Donald Trump's pledge to revoke student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters sparked outcry over threats to free speech and legal debates over constitutionality, but it was already happening quietly under the Biden administration, a legal advocacy group says.
Even as the measure was debated, federal officials were canceling visas for some students who had traveled outside the United States, due to their activism, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said Wednesday.
"Hearing more and more from students who left for a short trip abroad and are unable to return after their visas got cancelled," Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC, wrote on X.
During the Biden administration, the ADC heard from a few students who were barred from reentry after winter break, Ayoub said. No explicit reason was given, but they had a shared pattern of pro-Palestinian activism on campuses.
"I've seen enough to know targeting is happening," Ayoub said, concerned that such cases would grow under the Trump administration.
"I think the prior administration may have begun implementing directives for additional screening for students who were part of encampments," he said. "I believe the current administration took that framework and is probably building on it."
The State Department declined to comment about the ADC’s claims, saying visa records are confidential under U.S. law and that it does not discuss individual cases. The department has the right to revoke a visa under the Immigration and Nationality Act “when information comes to light at any time indicating that a visa holder may no longer be eligible,” a spokesperson said.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 29 that aims to tackle an “explosion in antisemitism” after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, in part by revoking visas of student protesters. A related order, signed nine days earlier, calls for canceling visas and deporting non-citizens who are deemed “hostile” to the United States or sympathetic to terrorism.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a fact sheet about the executive order. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
The measures have sparked worry on college campuses, where thousands of protests have taken place calling for an end to war in Gaza and for colleges to divest from Israel. Some international students say they are lying low, keeping off social media and staying away from protests.
One South Asian student at a New Jersey college said he had gotten strict orders from his family back home to avoid political events and be in his dorm by 7 p.m. The curfew means he’ll miss special night prayers with fellow Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan for the first time in 10 years. He will pray alone.
Even though he is in the country legally, the student was rattled by reports of immigration raids and did not want to take chances.
"It makes me feel like I am in a prison," said the student, who did not feel safe giving his name or identifying his school. "I am not allowed to do things, say things, and my movements are restricted."
Legal debate about protections of political expression
Non-citizens convicted of crimes were already at risk of deportation, but political expression is protected under the law, legal experts said.
"The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities," Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, said in a statement. "Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional."
Still, the federal government does have "significant authority over those who may enter and stay in the country," and court cases around the issue are complicated, said the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Trump implied that he will use a federal law that allows for deportation of a non-citizen who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity." The idea was floated in his first term as president, but government lawyers opined in memos that it would likely be unconstitutional, the Knight First Amendment Institute found through public records requests.
Many Jewish groups welcomed the order to fight antisemitism, which calls for the Justice Department to "aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" who "have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination." But they were divided over calls to deport anti-Israel protesters, warning that eroding democratic rights would also hurt Jews.
The order also calls for the expansion of civil rights investigations against colleges and universities, using a controversial definition of antisemitism that considers some criticisms of Israel — such as calling it a "racist endeavor" — as evidence of discrimination. It suggests, too, that universities should monitor their international students’ activities and report on them to the federal government.
Advocates raised concerns about free speech and targeting of protests that have been mostly peaceful. Trump's words also appear to have emboldened harassment against protesters, as vigilantes show up at events threatening to identify them and report them to authorities.
In one such incident, the far-right group Betar US went to a New York City vigil for Hind Rijab, a 6-year-old girl from Gaza who was killed along with six family members and two paramedics who tried to save her. The group said it would “document all attendees and even those in keffiyahs and masks" and was using facial recognition technology to compile lists of names.
At the vigil, hecklers yelled at the crowd, “Show your face so we can get you deported,” and “ICE, ICE, ICE,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Warnings for students
Some advocacy groups are issuing warnings. The ADC advised international students to "use free speech wisely" and avoid arrest or civil disobedience; to avoid engagement with unknown groups; to avoid traffic stops, and not to speak to authorities without a lawyer. They also discouraged international travel.
"Avoid international travel during the semester, unless it’s absolutely necessary," Ayoub wrote. "It’s just not worth the risk."
He called on U.S. officials to offer guidance or clarity on the matter before the summer, when thousands of international students are expected to travel abroad.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also warned non-citizens to take precautions. "If the protest escalates into a threatening or violent situation, or if continued participation could lead to potential legal violations or arrest, it is advisable to consider withdrawing from the protest," the Muslim advocacy group said. "Students who are not citizens should also exercise caution in their speech on social media and in public spaces."
“It’s going to put a chill on free speech, for sure,” said Carissa Cunningham, a Rutgers doctoral student and lecturer in political science at SUNY Purchase in Westchester. “That’s what I would expect, especially going after our most vulnerable students, the ones on visas.”
But Cunningham and activists at two other New Jersey universities said the measure would not hamper the larger protest movement, noting that most participants are U.S. citizens, and that they have long faced intense scrutiny.
Yahya Habehh, a student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, understands why international students want to stay out of the public eye, but he believes his group has not done anything that would put its members at risk.
“We know what we are doing,” Habehh said. “We’re not antisemitic and we’re not anti-Jewish. We’re advocating for equality at the end of the day. It’s not going to deter us. At the end of the day, we know our rights.”