UPDATE APRIL 15, 2025: There are now reports of at least 800 international student visas being revoked or records being terminated by the federal government, Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance, told UPI. At the end of March, that number was about 300. International faculty members are also being affected, and universities are not being notified of the revocations.
Several universities tell UPI the students who were impacted did not participate in any protests, and they have not been told why their visas were revoked..
The Presidents’ Alliance and 86 colleges are suing the Trump administration to stop it from arresting, detaining and deporting international students.
This article, originally posted on March 28, was last updated on April 11.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have recently detained or deported several international students and academics at elite universities, citing homeland security concerns. These cases appear to target foreign-born individuals, many of whom do not have criminal records.
On March 25, six masked, plainclothes ICE agents arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student from Turkey studying at Tufts University. Ozturk, who has been accused by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of supporting Hamas, was detained despite a court order to keep her in Massachusetts. She was instead transferred to an ICE processing center in Louisiana. DHS has not provided evidence to support its allegations that Ozturk supports Hamas.
In a declaration filed April 10, Ozturk said the agents would not tell her why she was being arrested, noting one of them said, “We are not monsters. We do what the government tells us.” Ozturk also alleges the agents denied her request to speak with an attorney.
Related Article: Trump Executive Order Urges Universities to ‘Monitor,’ ‘Report’ Protesters on Student Visas
The agency also detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and graduate student at Columbia University, two weeks ago. Khalil, who is a prominent voice in campus activism, had participated in a protest against Israel last year. Reports from the Associated Press indicate ICE agents also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
University of Alabama Doctoral Student from Iran Apprehended by ICE
Additionally, Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran at the University of Alabama, was detained on Tuesday.
Doroudi, who studies mechanical engineering, reportedly entered the U.S. in January 2023 on an F-1 student visa issued by the U.S. Embassy in Oman. According to reports from The Crimson White, Doroudi’s visa was revoked six months after his arrival. Despite seeking advice from the University’s International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS), which reassured him of his legal standing to stay in the U.S. as long an he maintained his student status, Doroudi was detained. The reasons for his detention have not been disclosed publicly.
Academics at other leading U.S. universities, including Georgetown and Brown, holding valid visas for employment, have also been detained or deported by ICE in recent months over unspecified homeland security concerns.
Related Article: ICE in Schools: Districts, State Leaders Issue Guidelines for Dealing with ICE Agents
One of the faculty members who has been caught up in ICE’s operations is Brown University’s Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant physician. She was detained at Boston Logan International as she was returning from Lebanon, reports CNN. According to the DHS, federal law allows the secretary of state to act upon the belief a non-citizen “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,”
Harvard Researcher Detained After Visa Revocation Over Customs Violation
A Harvard Medical School researcher, Kseniia Petrova, is also being held at an ICE facility in Louisiana after her research visa was revoked for failing to properly declare frog embryos when re-entering the U.S. on February 16.
According to The Harvard Crimson, Petrova, a Russian citizen, was stopped at Boston Logan International Airport by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials upon returning from a personal trip to France. During the inspection, officials discovered the undeclared frog embryos, which Petrova brought into the country for use in her scientific research. The CBP subsequently revoked her research visa, citing the customs violation.
Petrova, who had been conducting research at Harvard Medical School, has filed two petitions through her attorney seeking her release from ICE custody. Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, contends that the customs violation — which generally carries a penalty of up to a $500 fine and seizure of the undeclared item — did not warrant CBP’s authority to cancel her visa.
Following the visa revocation, Petrova was initially given the option to either voluntarily return to France and reapply for a visa or be deported and barred from entering the U.S. for five years. According to Romanovsky, Petrova opted to return to France. However, when she expressed to CBP officials that she feared political persecution if forced to return to her home country of Russia, she was detained for further processing. Petrova had previously been arrested in Russia in 2022 for protesting President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
If deported, Petrova will not return to Russia but rather to France, where she currently holds a Schengen visa. This visa allows her to remain in European Union Schengen countries for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. Romanovsky underscored Petrova’s fear of returning to Russia, citing the potential threat of political persecution due to her anti-war stance.
All documented arrests of foreign-born students and faculty members have reportedly taken place off campus.
