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In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Massachusetts, on March 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
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People with ties to American universities, most of whom have shown support for pro-Palestinian causes, have been detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
President Donald Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Mr. Trump’s administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorising the Secretary of State to revoke visas of non citizens who could be considered a threat to foreign policy interests. More than half a dozen people are known to have been taken into custody or deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in recent weeks.
Federal officers detained 30-year-old Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk on Tuesday (March 25, 2025) as she walked along a street in suburban Boston. A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said without providing evidence that an investigation found Ms. Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” which is also a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
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Friends and colleagues of Ms. Ozturk said her only known activism was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel. Ms. Ozturk has been taken to an ICE detention centre in Louisiana. A U.S. District judge in Massachusetts on Friday (March 28, 2025) said Ms. Ozturk can’t be deported to Turkiye without a court order and gave the government until Tuesday (April 1, 2025) evening to respond to an updated complaint filed by Ms. Ozturk’s attorneys.
This month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, Palestinian activist and graduate student who was prominent in protests at Columbia last year. The administration has said it revoked Mr. Khalil’s green card because his role in the campus protests amounted to antisemitic support for Hamas. He is fighting deportation.
Mr. Khalil served as a negotiator for Columbia students as they bargained with university officials over ending their campus encampment last spring. He was born in Syria and is married to an American citizen. His lawyers urged a federal judge on Friday (March 28, 2025) to free their client from a Louisiana immigration detention centre and argued his case should not be moved to Louisiana courts. The judge said he would issue a decision soon.
Yunseo Chung is a Columbia student and lawful U.S. resident who moved to America from Korea as a child. Ms. Chung attended and was arrested at a sit-in this month at nearby Barnard College protesting the expulsion of students who participated in pro-Palestinian activism.
The Department of Homeland Security wants to deport Ms. Chung and has said she “engaged in concerning conduct,” including being arrested on a misdemeanour charge. A judge ordered immigration agents not to detain Ms. Chung while her legal challenge is pending.
Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown scholar from India, was arrested outside his Virginia home and detained by masked Homeland Security agents on allegations that he spread Hamas propaganda. Mr. Suri’s attorney wrote in a court filing that he was targeted because of his social media posts and his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.” Mr. Suri holds a visa authorizing him to be in the U.S. as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a U.S. citizen, according to court documents.
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Mr. Suri was taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings.
Leqaa Kordia, a resident of Newark, New Jersey, was detained and accused of failing to leave the U.S. after her student visa expired. Federal authorities said Ms. Kordia is a Palestinian from the West Bank and that she was arrested at or near Columbia during pro-Palestinian protests. Columbia has said it has no record of her being a student there.
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Ms. Kordia is being held in an immigration detention centre in Alvarado, Texas, according to a government database.
Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia, fled the U.S. after immigration agents searched for her at her university residence. The Trump administration has said it revoked Ms. Srinivasan’s visa for “advocating for violence and terrorism.” Ms. Srinivasan opted to “self-deport.”
Officials didn’t say what evidence they have that Ms. Srinivasan advocated violence. Her lawyers deny the accusations, and she told The New York Times that she didn’t help to organize protests at Columbia.
University of Alabama doctoral student Alireza Doroudi of Iran was detained by ICE on Tuesday (March 26, 2025). David Rozas, a lawyer representing Mr. Doroudi, says Mr. Douridi was studying mechanical engineering. His student visa was revoked in 2023, but his lawyer has said he was eligible to continue his studies as long as he maintained his student status and met other requirements of his entry into the United States.
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A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Friday (March 28, 2025) that the arrest was made over the revocation of Mr. Doroudi’s student visa, saying he “posed significant national security concerns.” A spokesperson said they could not share additional details.
Unlike some other students targeted by ICE, Mr. Dorudi’s lawyer said there is no indication that his client was involved in any political protests. Mr. Doroudi told his lawyer he isn’t aware of any suspected criminal activity or violations. He was detained in Alabama but will be moved to an immigration facility in Jena, Louisiana.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist from Lebanon who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported this month, even though a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Homeland Security officials said Dr. Alawieh was deported as soon as she returned to the U.S. from Lebanon, despite having a U.S. visa, because she “openly admitted” supporting former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Dr. Alawieh told officers she followed him for his religious and spiritual teachings and not his politics, court documents said.
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She was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine. Stephanie Marzouk, Dr. Alawieh’s lawyer, has said she will fight to get the 34-year-old doctor back to the U.S.
Momodou Taal is a doctoral student at Cornell University whose visa was revoked after he participated in campus demonstrations.
Mr. Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, has asked a federal judge to halt his detention during his court challenge. The government says it revoked Mr. Taal’s student visa because of his alleged involvement in “disruptive protests.”
His attorneys say the 31-year-old doctoral student in Africana studies was exercising free speech rights. Mr. Taal said he will surrender to immigration authorities if the court determines the government is acting legally. Mr. Taal said in a court declaration that “I feel like a prisoner already, although all I have done is exercise my rights.”
Published – March 29, 2025 09:30 am IST
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U.S. crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters: Who has been detained or deported
