The Trump presidency has arrested and detained many students at universities across the country in the months since President Donald Trump’s professional order to crack down on hatred, with a special attention on university campuses.
The administrative order, which Trump signed in January, states the president did “quickly withdraw the student visa of all Hamas supporters on college campuses, which have been infested with extremism like never before”, according to a White House fact sheet.
” To all the resident creatures who joined in the pro-jihadist demonstrations, we put you on see: come 2025, we may find you, and we will arrest you”, the fact sheet reads.
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The State Department has even begun , harnessing the power , of artificial intelligence to go after immigration consumers in the United States who appear to show love for , Hamas , and other extremist groups. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has the authority to rescind visas of noncitizens he determines to be a threat to U. S. interests.
As of March 27, the State Department had revoked the visas of over 300 foreign college and university students as part of a crackdown on pro-Hamas rioters who targeted campuses last year.
Here are some of the students who have been arrested:
Mahmoud Khalil
Immigration and Customs Enforcement , agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a , Columbia University , graduate student from Syria, on March 8 for his involvement in organizing , anti-Israel , protests on campus.
The State Department ordered that Khalil, who is a permanent resident on a green card, have his student visa revoked.  , Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin , told , NBC News in a statement that the arrest was coordinated with ICE and the State Department “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism”.
While Khalil has not been charged with a crime, the Trump administration has accused him of siding with Hamas terrorists. New York federal Judge , Jesse Furman blocked the government from deporting Khalil in a March 10 ruling.
After Khalil’s arrest in New York City, he was briefly held in New Jersey before being transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. On March 19, a federal judge rejected the , Trump administration’s requests to dismiss the case or move it to Louisiana, instead transferring it to New Jersey.
The fight over where the case will be held is ongoing. On March 28, a federal judge heard arguments on whether Khalil’s case should remain in New Jersey or be transferred to Louisiana.
Khalil is married to an American citizen, who is eight months pregnant, and in December, he earned a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Rumeysa Ozturk
The DHS , detained Turkish Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk on March 25 for allegedly engaging in “activities in support of Hamas”.
Ozturk, 30, was stopped on the street by DHS agents in plainclothes, and her arrest was captured on a street security camera.
In a statement, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said the school “had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University“.
” The university has no additional information at this time about the cause or circumstances of the student’s apprehension and is attempting to learn more about the incident”, Kumar wrote. ” Following university protocol, the Office of University Counsel will assist in connecting the student to external legal resources should the individual request our assistance”.
Ozturk published an , opinion piece , in March 2024 in the student newspaper Tufts Daily, calling on school officials to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”. She was one of four co-authors.
Badar Khan Suri
On March 17, ICE detained Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University student from India who is in the U. S. on a student visa, when agents descended on his Arlington, Virginia, home without notice to the school. He was told his visa had been revoked.
” Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas”, McLaughlin wrote in a statement on X.
In a subsequent post, McLaughlin confirmed that Suri’s “father-in-law is a Hamas political advisor”.
” We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members ‘ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable”, the university said. ” We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly”.
U. S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said in a March 20 ruling that Suri could not be deported from the country while she reviewed his court petition unless she issued a new ruling approving his removal.  ,
Suri attends Georgetown to do “doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan”, according to court filings, and he was a teacher at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is married to a Palestinian woman.
Suri is being held in detention at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.
Alireza Doroudi
The University of , Alabama , confirmed on March 26 that doctoral student Alireza Doroudi was detained off-campus by ICE.
Reports , from the , Crimson White, the university’s student newspaper, identified Doroudi as an Iranian national studying under a student visa. It is unclear why he is being detained or what charges he faces, but Doroudi has engaged in , pro-Palestinian , protests.
“ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa. This individual posed significant national security concerns”, a DHS spokesperson , said in an email , to NBC News.
The University of Alabama College Democrats said in a statement posted to Instagram that their “fears have come to pass”.
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” Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community”, the organization wrote.
Leqaa Kordia
DHS arrested Leqaa Kordia, a student involved in last spring ‘s , Columbia University , pro-Palestinian protests, on March 14.
Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank who stayed in the U. S. on an expired visa, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations Newark officers.
Kordia’s student visa was terminated on Jan. 26, 2022, for lack of attendance. She was arrested in April 2024 for her “involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City”, according to a DHS statement.
Other students self-deporting
Some students have elected to self-deport after their visas have been revoked.
Using the Trump administration’s recently launched Customs and Border Protection Home app, illegal immigrants living in the U. S. can alert the federal government of their plans to leave the country.
Columbia University doctoral student and Indian national Ranjani Srinivasan used the CBP Home app to self-deport after she was stripped of her student visa in March.
” It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America”, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. ” When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport”.
