Trump Administration Revokes Visas of 300 International Students, More Expected

Trump Administration Revokes Visas of 300 International Students: Recently, the Trump administration revoked the visas of over 300 students, putting many Indian and other international students living in the US on panic mode. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has further increased worries by hinting that there might be more student deportations in the coming future.

This is an alleged crackdown on students accused of activism on campus. It has come to cover students who did not participate in protests physically but liked, shared, or commented on "anti-national" posts on a social media platform.

"Our daily task now focuses on crawling for these lunatics,” Apparently, Marco Rubio said that students in the country were part of antics involving the possible discontinuation of their visas. He did not specify the direct activities that got the "cancellation" action.

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Rubio further declared that the State would have canceled more than 300 international student visas, warning that the Trump administration was still looking for "these lunatics" each day. His comments were prompted by a question about the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student that was arrested in Somerville, Massachusetts, outside of Boston, by agents clad with masks and plain clothes. This arrest is employing the latest Trump policy against a foreign student who chose to support Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza.

What happened with Rumeysa Ozturk?

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar and doctoral student in Child Study and Human Development, was detained Tuesday night by agents in plain clothes outside Tufts University in Somerville, Massachusetts.

This incident comes about a year after co-authoring a controversial opinion piece in The Tufts Daily rebuking the university's refusal to divest from companies linked to Israel, as well as its support for Palestinian rights.

Rookie lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai sued on behalf of Ozturk challenging the legality of the detention, arguing that Ozturk's free speech rights were violated: "It seems the only thing she has committed is an exercise of her right to free speech."

While judges in Boston were temporarily stopping the removal of Ozturk from Massachusetts, the DOJ said that Ozturk had already been sent off to Louisiana.

According to representatives of Ozturk, her arrest is the first known immigration apprehension of a student from the Boston area who has been involved in pro-Palestinian activism during the Trump administration.

The accused crackdown is said to be persecution and opened an onslaught on the free speech and academic freedom of students. The outrage has spread towards student groups, civil rights activists, and, to an extent, some Jewish organizations condemning the administration for misclassifying legitimate criticism against the policies of Israel as supportive of Hamas, the terrorist organization.

Fear among international students, including Indians

US college campuses are buzzing about the State Department's decision to revoke F-1 visas to more than three hundred international students, many of whom have been vocal proponents of Palestinian rights.

The F-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa granting international students residence within the United States for study at accredited educational institutions.

Accredited schools include universities, colleges, high schools, seminaries, conservatories, and approved language programs. In order to qualify, applicants must be admitted into a full-time course of study at an SEVP-certified institution and prove English proficiency (or enroll in courses for improvement) as well as demonstrate proof of sufficient funds to meet both educational and living expenses while in America.

Always, the Indian students have added weightage to the international students in the United States, according to figures released by the US Department of State.

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Growing number of student deportations

Indian PhD student, Ranjani Srinivasan, had to self-deport herself to Canada after her student visa was canceled for allegedly 'supporting Hamas.' In an interview by Al Jazeera, Srinivasan said she did not expect her institution, Columbia University, to let her down but then that's exactly how she feels.

Srinivasan, a doctoral student at Columbia University in New York, received an email on March 5 from the United States consulate in Chennai stating that her student visa had been revoked.

While trying to figure it all out and contacting her PhD group and authorities at the university, ICE agents showed up at her door.

She took off from New York to Canada on March 11, and a grainy security camera footage from LaGuardia Airport showing her dragging a suitcase went viral throughout the world.

Also taken into custody was Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, who led events fighting for the rights of Palestinians.

The issue also came alive because of reports that have indicated many US universities, Columbia included, coming under pressure from the Trump administration to reduce antisemitism in their campus. At one time the administration froze $400 million in federal funding to Columbia, saying the institution had failed to tackle antisemitism concerns adequately. The classified funding was later restored on the condition that the university would put in place much stricter measures, including enhanced campus security.

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