Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to combat “antisemitism” and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

A fact sheet on the US order promises “immediate action” by the Justice Department to prosecute “terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews” and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called “the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets” since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in the fact sheet. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathisers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” he said, echoing a campaign promise.

Campus protests against the war in Gaza had rocked universities in the US, including Columbia, last summer. The order has now stoked fears among many international students on F-1 visas. Indian students are among the largest cohorts in US universities, with their numbers estimated at about 300,000.

The 29-year-old student at Columbia University, originally from Delhi, moved to the US two years ago. A Delhi University alumna, she had been part of campus protests in India and later joined pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York City last May.

But the new order has forced her into a cautious silence. “I have to be extremely careful about my position as an Indian student on a visa. My parents have always warned me to stay out of such things,” she had told The Indian Express earlier.

Another 21-year-old Master’s student, also on F-1 visa at Columbia, echoed her concerns. Having moved from Jaipur last year, she was drawn to the protests. “I used to attend vigils and quietly chant in support. But now, even doing that feels risky. It would impact my future prospects,” she said.

“It felt like my responsibility to be part of the movement in some capacity. But with this executive order, I don’t think I can risk it anymore,” she said.

“Everything is so unclear. How would they even identify the students? Protests can take place in so many forms. My parents have invested so much in my education that I will have to stay away from all that can cause trouble,” she said.

For some, fear has long been a factor. Another student at Columbia from Mumbai recalled how she chose to return to India during the pro-Palestinian protests last year to avoid potential fallout. “Now, with this executive order, we won’t even think of saying anything. We don’t want to risk our visa status,” she said.

Eric Lee, an immigration attorney with Diamante Law Group, laid out the sweeping implications of the order. “It says 60 days, but the reality is enforcement could be sooner. This violates the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech,” Lee said.

“On their face, the orders apply to all speech, including statements made by students in classroom discussions, during office hours with professors, at home with their friends, or in essays submitted in class. The order applies to students and faculty, including those on valid visas and those with green cards. The order attempts to transform universities into a wing of the Department of Homeland Security by pressing them to ‘monitor’ what students say or write in class and what staff teach, and ‘report’ them to authorities. All non-citizen students who have participated in protests are at risk of being surveilled and ordered removed,” Lee said.

“The order draws on the darkest traditions of American history, including the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Palmer Raids deportations of socialist and anarchist opponents of World War-1. It is urgent that international civil society stand up to prevent Trump from transforming the American university system into an enforcement wing of Trump’s deportation machine,” he said.

At Columbia, a campus known for its political activism, students are now grappling with a chilling new reality. Protests continue, but the fear of retribution has left many like the 29-year-old student questioning the price of their activism.

“By silencing students, they’re defeating the whole purpose of being in a university — an open space to learn and grow,” she said.

For international students balancing financial dependence on loans or aid and the hope of securing a better future, the stakes are impossibly high. Many who were once vocal, now tread carefully, their voices subdued by the weight of political consequences.

The new order comes in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first visit to the US under the Trump 2.0 administration next week, on February 4. He is likely to be the first foreign leader to be in the White House as the Trump administration begins its second term.

The order requires agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations, within 60 days, on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism, according to the fact sheet.

It calls for an inventory and analysis of all court cases involving K-12 schools, colleges and universities and alleged civil rights violations associated with pro-Palestinian campus protests, potentially leading to actions to remove “alien students and staff”.