Deporting Democracy: The Crackdown on Foreign Student Visas
Immigration Brief # 143 | Morgan Davidson | April 22, 2025
Institutions of higher education are under attack. Since the return of the Trump administration, more than 1,500 international students and recent graduates from over 240 institutions, across at least 45 states and Washington, D.C., have had their F-1 academic and J-1 exchange visas revoked.
As a doctoral student in the U.S. education system, this is not just a headline to me: it is personal. My cohort is evenly split between domestic and international students, with classmates hailing from Europe, Asia, and Africa. These are scholars who believe in democracy, who left their home countries, sometimes at great personal risk, with the hope of contributing to American society, promoting democratic values, and advancing human knowledge.
Now, under this administration, those students are being driven out. We have already seen the cases: Rumeysa Öztürk, the Turkish Fulbright scholar from Tufts; Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student activist from Columbia; Kseniia Petrova, the Russian researcher at Harvard Medical School. Bright, promising individuals have been detained or deported without due process.
This is not about making America great. It is about making it smaller, meaner, and less relevant on the global stage. When we push the world’s brightest minds away, we do not just lose students, we lose allies, ideas, and innovation.
This article is a call to action: end the mass revocations of student visas now.
Analysis
The Trump administration has weaponized immigration law to target international students under the guise of national security. Visa revocations are happening through obscure bureaucratic mechanisms that deny due process and operate entirely outside public view. Agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are acting with virtually no transparency. Students often receive no warning that their F-1 or J-1 visas have been revoked; they find out only when they are detained at airports, during class, or in their homes by masked, unidentified agents.
Universities and faculty are blindsided. SEVIS, the database schools use to track international student status, is often updated after a student has already been detained. By the time administrators are aware, it is too late to intervene.
These decisions are frequently based on AI-driven surveillance of social media, targeting students who post pro-Palestinian content or criticism of U.S. foreign policy. The case of Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Fulbright scholar detained after co-authoring a campus op-ed, makes clear: this is not about lawbreaking. It’s about silencing speech.
This isn’t the return of free speech. It’s the criminalization of dissent.
This wave of visa revocations is not random: it’s political profiling. International students who speak out against U.S. foreign policy, especially in defense of Palestinian rights, are being systematically targeted. The Trump administration justifies these actions with obscure “national security” claims, but offers no evidence that student activism poses a real threat to the country.
Meanwhile, where are the voices of the “Genocide Joe” protesters? Trump has escalated U.S. support for Israel and launched a direct crackdown on the protesters themselves, yet many of those same movements have gone quiet.
The consequences of this crackdown stretch far beyond individual students. By detaining scholars like Mahmoud Khalil or Kseniia Petrova, neither accused of any crime, the U.S. sends a chilling message: free speech is conditional, and foreign-born dissent is unwelcome. As a result, brilliant students are turning to other countries. China, in particular, is stepping in to attract those driven out of the U.S., offering academic refuge where America offers detention cells.
This isn’t protecting America- it’s punishing the people who believed in it.
International students aren’t just visitors. They contribute billions to the economy, drive innovation in research and technology, and strengthen global cooperation. In my own program, these students are not foreign radicals. They are peers and friends from across the world who believe in the ideals of American democracy. Many have risked their safety, left family behind, or were forced to cut ties to be part of that vision.
By revoking their visas and targeting their voices, the U.S. is sending a dangerous message: political opposition is unwelcome. When a nation punishes peaceful dissent, that’s not strength. It’s outright authoritarianism.
We don’t just lose students. We lose allies, ideas, and innovation. These actions don’t just harm students. They undercut American influence. China & European countries are welcoming the talent we are actively pushing away. In the long run, this isn’t just a moral failure, it’s a strategic one.
When students feel safer speaking freely in Beijing than in Boston, something is deeply wrong.
The Biden and Obama administrations didn’t get everything right on immigration, but they didn’t turn international students into political targets. What we’re seeing now is unprecedented — and unacceptable. There must be an immediate suspension of foreign student visa revocations, restoration of due process rights, and a serious legislative review of ICE’s unchecked authority.
Academic freedom and international education are cornerstones of American influence and credibility. If we continue down this path, we won’t just lose students; we’ll lose what made America worth coming to in the first place.
Engagement Resources
- American Immigration Council
Explore how immigration policies affect families, the economy, and communities across the U.S.
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/ - American Immigration Council – Student Visa Resources
Legal explanations and policy analysis on student visa rights, terminations, and advocacy options.
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/ - The Intercept – Civil Liberties & Surveillance Reporting
In-depth investigative reporting on ICE, AI surveillance, and civil liberties in higher education.
https://theintercept.com/