Over 300 international students have had their visas suddenly revoked by the Trump administration amid a major escalation in the crackdown on student activism in the United States. What began as a targeted attack against some of the most vocal pro-Palestine students, starting with the arrest of Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, has now escalated into a broader attack against international students in general.
Students across the country at a variety of both public and private institutions including but not at all limited to Harvard University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas at Austin, and throughout the University of California system.
A lawsuit filed on April 5 by a California college student suing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons claims that these visa revocations are “primarily targeting” students of African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Asian origin. According to journalist Prem Thakker writing for independent outlet Zeteo News, who spoke to a wide swath of students targeted by this policy, this is “a likelihood affirmed by university officials, students, and attorneys Zeteo has spoken with.”
These visa revocations, which have taken place over the past few days of early April, are reportedly done with little explanation or reasoning and feel “AI or computer-driven,” as immigration lawyer Jath Shao told Zeteo News. According to Shao, the execution of this latest crackdown feels like “someone wrote a program, like, okay if A, then B.”
The execution of this policy has been riddled with a sense of arbitrariness. One of Shao’s clients had her visa revoked based on being a domestic violence victim–not perpetrator–who was arrested alongside the other party involved in the domestic violence incident but was never charged with a crime. Other students have reported having visas revoked over minor violations such as a speeding ticket.
Could these revocations be driven by AI? Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indeed launched the AI-based “Catch and Revoke” program, which utilizes artificial intelligence to scour the social media accounts of student visa holders for potential support for Hamas or other US-designated terrorist groups. So-called support for Hamas has been used as a pretext by the Trump administration to target those who express support for Palestine. Many have raised alarms about this program, including Faiza Patel of the Brennan Center for Justice, who expects that such a program would be prone to “rudimentary mistakes.”
New details emerge in Badar Khan Suri case
New details have emerged in the case of detained Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow Dr. Badar Khan Suri, including a video showing his ambush and arrest by masked federal agents. The video was released by Suri’s legal team, which includes the ACLU of Virginia, the Center for Constitutional Rights, HMA Law, and the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law as part of his case challenging his arrest and detention by the Trump administration.
Suri was arrested by ICE agents as he was coming home from an Iftar celebration. He was targeted by the Trump administration for what appears to be reasons relating to his marriage to a US citizen of Palestinian origin. The couple had previously been targeted by doxxing groups such as Canary Mission and CAMERA.org.
“There’s a clear pattern to the Trump administration targeting noncitizens like Mahmoud Khalil and Dr. Badar Khan Suri for deportation. The Trump administration is trying to send a message that if you disagree with the U.S. government, you’ll be punished,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Noncitizens have every right to express political ideas, including support for Palestinian rights. And no one should be targeted for who they’ve married. If they can do this to Dr. Khan Suri or Mahmoud Khalil, they can do this to any of us.”
Harrowing details have emerged of Suri’s treatment following his arrest, after which he was taken to the ICE office in Washington, DC, where federal agents told Suri that a high-level official at the Secretary of State’s office “does not want you here.” According to Suri’s legal team, Suri was then “transferred among five different ICE facilities across three states, despite the fact that ICE records indicate there were beds in Virginia facilities” and denied food to break his fast while he was observing Ramadan.
While in ICE custody, Suri was “housed in a room without a bed and with a television blaring 21 hours a day,” “issued used underwear,” and was “not permitted to work or spend more than two hours per week outside of his dorm.”
Suri’s son began crying uncontrollably in the days following his father’s arrest, and has stopped speaking. Dr. Khan Suri remains in ICE custody, and has said, “I’ve never even been to a protest. I came to the U.S. to work and raise my family: I go to work, come home late, and still they came and took me and broke my family.”
