Since U.S. President Donald Trump entered office for the second time on January 20, 2025, immigration authorities have cancelled the visas of hundreds of students and new graduates, and many of them have even been detained.
Students who took part in pro-Palestine demonstrations that broke out on campuses nationwide in 2024 in response to Israel's attack on Gaza are among the many people targeted by the visa cancellations and arrests. Others are those who have more tangential ties to Palestine or who have shown solidarity with Gaza on social media.
Concern at US universities about the detention and revocation of foreign students' visas
Students, attorneys, and activists have all refuted the Trump administration's accusations that these students propagated pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic rhetoric on campus. Many of the most well-known demonstrations against the Gaza conflict in the United States have been led by Jewish individuals and organisations.
A speeding ticket or other driving offences, for example, have resulted in the removal of certain people's visas.
The extent of visa revocations, the number of institutions they affect, and some of the students targeted are as follows:
What is the number of students whose visas have been cancelled?
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in late March that the government had cancelled around 300 student visas.
However, the actual figure is significantly higher.
Estimates vary. On the upper end of the spectrum is the American Immigration Lawyers Association's figure, which states that over 4,700 students have been deleted from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS), a database managed by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Even more cautious tabulations, however, suggest that the figure is easily above 1,000. As of April 17, 1,400 students are reportedly in danger of being deported, according to the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA).
As of April 17, 1,489 students have lost their visas, according to the US-based higher education journal Inside Higher Ed.
What is the number of impacted universities?
More than 240 US schools and institutions have had their student visas cancelled, according to a survey by Inside Higher Ed.
Large public universities like Ohio State University and the University of Maryland, as well as a few minor liberal arts schools, are among the colleges impacted, along with private universities like Harvard and Stanford.
What are the alternatives and why are the visas being cancelled?
The Trump administration says it is working to prevent college takeovers by protestors.
"Activists will not be imported into the United States. Their purpose is to learn. Their purpose is to attend class. On March 28, Rubio said, "They are not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine the — our universities."
However, a lot of students have complained that their US legal status was abruptly revoked.
Several of them participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations on campuses via social media, including Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Momodou Taal.
Others, however, have had their visas cancelled for prior traffic infractions or, in some situations, without a clear reason, according to Mohammad Ali Syed, head of an immigration practice group in Washington, DC.
Syed stressed that overseas students should speak with immigration attorneys as soon as possible to discuss legal options and safeguard their rights, saying, "This widespread action has led to legal challenges and raised concerns about due process and the impact on US higher education institutions."
"Students who claim due process breaches and want to regain their legal status may bring cases in federal courts. As an example, students at institutions in Michigan have filed lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security, claiming that their F-1 visas were revoked without enough notification or justification," he stated.
While legal processes are underway, students may seek temporary restraining orders (TROs) in emergency cases to avoid deportation and restore their status, he noted. According to him, similar orders have been issued by federal courts in places like Montana to shield kids from being taken away right away.
"A lot of universities are actively helping impacted students by offering academic accommodations, communicating with federal authorities, and providing legal resources," Syed said. For instance, George Mason University is looking at legal possibilities to help its foreign students and has spoken with federal authorities to understand the reasoning behind visa terminations.
What impact do visa cancellations have on campuses?
According to Hafsa Kanjwal, an associate professor at Lafayette College, a Pennsylvania liberal arts institution, both students and faculty members experience a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty on college campuses. In the event that they are denied entry back into the country, people are having to reconsider their trip plans.
She told Al Jazeera, "Given the political unrest in their respective places of origin, some students and faculty don't have a place to 'go back' to." "Although they are in the minority, certain schools and institutions are adopting a more aggressive stance. It seems that the majority of schools have not adequately reassured teachers and foreign students about their worries, particularly on the kind of adjustments that will be made to help them cope with these evolving changes.
International students are scared, according to another faculty member, a naturalised citizen at a state institution who asked to remain nameless because of potential problems with his free speech.
According to him, many of them are deleting their social media accounts because students are afraid that even minor indiscretions may result in their kidnapping and deportation, damaging their education. This includes individuals who have not publicly declared their political views.
"I recall participating in politics while holding a green card. We knew we had the freedom to voice our thoughts and participate in politics, provided we stayed within the law," he said.
"I publicly opposed War on Terror policies like drone strikes and actively participated in [protests against] both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars," he stated. The Trump administration aims to convey to foreign students and immigrants that their rights here are privileges that depend on their following the rules. In addition, they seek to target green card holders in order to block immigration routes more generally.
In addition, he said, "They want to use the politics surrounding Palestine to punish universities and compel them to crack down on liberal and left-wing content in classrooms because they view universities and colleges as strongholds of these ideologies."
Which alumni and students are impacted?
Mahmoud Khalil, 30, was taken into custody on March 8.
• Algerian Palestinian nationality
• Organisation: Columbia University grad
• US legal status: holder of a green card
• What led to his arrest? Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who served as the principal negotiator for the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) during the campus demonstrations last year, was taken into custody by ICE officers last month. His pregnant US citizen wife, Noor Abdalla, captured the arrest on her phone as he was removed from his university-owned flat in New York City. Under the Trump administration, this was the first recorded attempt to deport students of its sort.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation," although she offered no supporting documentation. According to Abdalla, the authorities made the arrest without a warrant. Khalil was sent to Jena, Louisiana, to be processed by ICE.
Khalil had a green card and was a permanent resident at the time of his arrest. The ICE authorities said that Khalil's green card will be cancelled after learning about it.
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against him.
But with the description, "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported," Rubio shared a link to a news report about Khalil's detention. As rights activists accuse President Donald Trump's administration of suppressing free speech and pro-Palestine advocacy in the name of combating anti-Semitism, Khalil's case has garnered a lot of attention.
Under a seldom utilised section of an immigration statute that allows the secretary of state to deport any non-citizen whose presence in the US is thought to have "adverse foreign policy consequences," the administration is attempting to deport Khalil.
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against her.
Along with four other students, Ozturk co-wrote an opinion post for the Tufts Daily, the student news website of her institution, on March 26, 2024. The writers of this article attacked Sunil Kumar, the president of the institution, for rejecting motions from the Tufts Community Union Senate that demanded the university "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide" and withdraw from Israeli-affiliated businesses in an email.
Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's attorney, petitioned a federal court in Boston, claiming that Ozturk had been wrongfully held. Consequently, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was ordered by US District Judge Indira Talwani to provide Ozturk 48 hours' notice before he leaves Massachusetts.
In spite of this, Ozturk's attorney claims that she was transferred to Louisiana in less than a day.
"DHS + ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organisation that relishes the killing of Americans," said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in an X post on March 26. McLaughlin did not elaborate on the nature of these operations.
A U.S. federal judge ordered the government to move her to Vermont on Saturday, April 19, so the court could consider legal objections to her incarceration.
42-year-old Badar Khan Suri was arrested on March 17.
• Indian nationality
• Organisation: Georgetown University
• Status lawful in the United States: student visa
• What led to his arrest? In the evening, he was taken into custody at his northern Virginia residence.
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against him.
Tricia McLaughlin, the spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said that Suri's detention was due to his "promotion of anti-Semitism and dissemination of Hamas propaganda." "Suri has close ties to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas," she wrote on X.
Mapheze Saleh, Suri's wife, told Al Jazeera that she is a citizen of the United States. The Israeli embassy in the United States claimed that Saleh was the daughter of a top Hamas advisor in a post on X on February 13. The New York Times was informed by Ahmed Yousef, a long-time advisor to the slain Hamas political figure Ismail Haniyeh, that he is Suri's father-in-law.
Suri's deportation was stopped on March 20 by Eastern District of Virginia Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles.
Suri is being imprisoned at the Prairieland Detention Centre in Alvarado, Texas, according to the ICE website.
Yunseo Chung, age 21; arrested on March 5
• South Korean nationality
• Organisation: Barnard, an undergraduate university connected to Columbia
• Permanent resident is the legal status in the United States.
• How did she get arrested? Police detained a number of students, including Chung, for taking part in a demonstration in support of Palestine.
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against her.
In order to prevent deportation, she has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald stopped her deportation.
31-year-old Momodou Taal
• Institution: Completed a PhD program in Africana Studies at Cornell University; • Nationality: Dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and The Gambia
• Status lawful in the United States: student visa
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against him.
He called on Cornell to divest from businesses that provide weapons to Israel while taking part in pro-Palestine demonstrations last year. Taal's involvement in protests and camping led to two suspensions from Cornell last year. Although he hasn't been taken into custody, he thinks the US government tried to do so.
Following Khalil's detention, Taal told Al Jazeera that he and two other plaintiffs—a Cornell professor and a doctorate candidate who are both US citizens—filed a complaint on March 8 against two Trump executive orders, including the one pertaining to college campuses.
A day after a federal court set a hearing for Taal's complaint, on the morning of March 19, Taal wrote on X that "unidentified law enforcement" had visited his Ithaca, New York, residence. Later in the day, he said, Cornell students saw more police vehicles parked at various locations close to his home, including on campus.
On March 14, Taal's visa was terminated, and he departed the United States.
32-year-old Alireza Doroudi was arrested on March 25, 2025.
• Iranian nationality
• Organisation: Alabama University
• Status lawful in the United States: student visa
• What led to his arrest? arrested from his residence
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against him.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, he "posed significant national security concerns," which led to the revocation of his student visa and his subsequent detention.
37-year-old Ranjani Srinivasan is an Indian national.
• Organisation: Columbia University
• Legal status in the United States: revoked student visa
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against her.
Srinivasan had been living at her university apartment since 2021 when someone posing as immigration officers knocked on her door on 7 March. According to the people, they intended to remove Srinivasan from the United States and then depart.
Columbia removed Srinivasan from school on March 9.
In order to be with her family and friends, Srinivasan flew from New York to Canada on a visitor's visa by March 11. ICE was notified by her attorneys that Srinivasan had left the United States.
Date of arrest: March 13, 2025; Leqaa Kordia, 21
• Palestinian nationality
• Organisation: unidentified
• Legal status in the US: Student visa overstay
• Allegations: According to the DHS, Kordia had overstayed her student visa, which had been revoked "for lack of attendance" in 2022. She was detained in April 2024 for her participation in Columbia University's Gaza demonstrations.
Xiaotian Liu, age 26; Chinese nationality
• Organisation: New Hampshire's Dartmouth College
• Legal status in the United States: revoked student visa
• Charges: There haven't been any known charges.
When Liu's institution performed a standard check on his legal status on 3 April, they found that his student visa had been abruptly withdrawn.
The university told him the next day that he could not finish his PhD in computer science.
Liu claims he did not participate in any demonstrations and has not been accused of any crimes.
He claimed that his visa had been cancelled "without any notice and sufficient explanation" and filed a lawsuit against the US government and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.
A federal court in New Hampshire temporarily suspended the decision on April 9 and said that she would prevent the Trump administration from rescinding Liu's status.
30 year old Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested on April 14, 2025.
• Palestinian nationality
• Organisation: Columbia University
• US legal status: holder of a green card
• How was he arrested? According to his attorneys, Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested Monday as he was present at an immigration office for an interview about his citizenship application.
• Charges: There are no documented criminal charges against him.
District Judge William Sessions issued an injunction shortly after Mahdawi's arrest prohibiting his removal from the US or the state of Vermont. Mahdawi and Khalil co-founded a Palestinian student organisation at Columbia University.
Where he is being detained is unknown.
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