BBC News, Washington and Boston
BbcIn the last few weeks, many foreign students living in the United States have observed that a sequence of events is repeated in their emissions on social media: agents with ordinary branches that appear unannounced and draw students in unmarked cars to detention centers.
Those taken in a series of detained students filmed on video have not encountered criminal accusations and instead seemed to have been aimed at participating in propalist protests in college campuses.
Trump's administration repeatedly says that visas are “privilege” and can be canceled at any time for a wide variety of reasonsS
But the repression seems far more western than originally thought, with more than 1,000 international students or recent graduates in colleges in the United States who have now canceled their visas or legal statues, according to an Inside Higher ED, an online news site covering the sector.
For many, the exact reasons are unknown and universities have often learned about changes only when checking a database managed by a government that registers the status of a visa of international students.
The combination of purposeful detainees and reports of large-scale cancellation visas has left campuses on the edge, from the largest public universities to elite institutions of IVY League, students and teachers to the BBC.
“I could be next,” said a student state -visiting Student Visiting Georgetown University, who wrote articles about Israel and the war in Gaza.
He began to carry a card in his pocket, which lists his constitutional rights if he was once stopped by law enforcement.
Another student in Texas said he was afraid to leave his apartment, even buying groceries.
In some colleges, the departments are affected, as researchers abroad refuse to return to the United States.
Most BBC students spoke with an anonymity of fear that they have their names in the media can make them a goal.
BBC has contacted Ministry of Education For comment.
The reasons for Visa cancellation variesS In some cases, criminal files seem to be a factor. Other cases have been reported to have included minor legal violations such as driving over speed limit. But “many” of the targets participated in propalist protests, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself.
It is part of a Wider pressure on the White House To break up to the protesters, whom employees claim to have created a dangerous environment for Jewish students in many campuses. They also accuse demonstrators of expressing support for Hamas, an officially defined terrorist group.
“Every time I find one of these lunatics, it takes away their visas,” Rubio told reporters at the end of March. “We do it every day.”
Civil freedom groups protested against detention and were moving to deport students as a violation of constitutional rights. And the students themselves reject the associations with Hamas, saying that they are aimed at political speech about the Gaza War and US support for Israel.
In Georgetown, the signs that say “protection of our students” are recorded on the doors of the bath stalls, adding a sense of darkness to the tree trees and tulips, which usually mark the arrival of spring in the campus.
Doctoral studies from the university, Badar Khan SuriHe was grabbed by federal agents outside his home in Virginia in March. The Ministry of Interior Security has accused the researcher of resolving conflict conflict in “promoting anti -Semitism in social media” and has ties to a “famous or suspect terrorist”.
It was obvious a reference to the Palestinian father of his born wife, a former adviser to Hamas's killed leader Ismail Hani.
Mr. Suri's lawyers say he only met his handful of his handful and is directed because of his wife's identity.
His detention followed the organizer of the University of Protest at Columbia University Mahmoud KhalilA permanent resident arrested at home in New York but now Waiting for deportation from a facility in Louisiana.
TUFTS University graduate student Believe in OzturkWho co -authored a student newspaper, who has given up Gaza and has been detained in Massachusetts, is also held in Louisiana.
Last Monday, Mohsen MahdawiAnother student of Colombia's protester was detained in Vermont when he attended an interview to obtain US citizenship. Like Halil, he has a green card, not a student visa.
“Based on the detention we see, I think there is an opportunity that anyone who has been frank about Palestine can be detained,” says a Georgetown student, who knows Suri.
Says the White House This comes after those who have participated in activities that “contradict” the US national interests. In the case of Halil, employees have indicated a 1952 law, which enables the government to order someone to have been deported if their presence in the country could have adverse effects on the US foreign policy.
In a publication by the X, the Colombian Jewish Association of graduates celebrated the arrest of G -N Khalil, calling it “Ringleader of Haos” at the university.
The poll suggests that immigration is a matter where President Trump enjoys some of his highest approval approval, with recent Reuters and AP-Nork studies suggest that about half of adults in the United States approve of action in the area, several points higher than its total rating.
Universities are also directed at an institutional level. This week's White Home Working Group for combating anti -Semitism froze over $ 2 billion in funding for Harvard UniversityAfter the university refused to agree to a list of demands that he was said to “pass” his independence. “
Trump staff said that if Harvard did not comply with a request for information about certain Visaholders students, he would stop providing visas to international students who want to study there.
Georgetown Nader Hashemi professor said he believed that the government's primary goal was to “silence disagreement” by intimidating possible protesters.
Georgetown student says he has asked his parents not to fly from India to the United States to see him to finish with a master's degree in just a few weeks. He is still not sure if he will even attend the ceremony.
In addition to checking his email every day to check that he is among the hundreds who have canceled his visas recently, he has also prepared himself for the possibility of sudden arrest.
“I cleared my chats in messages and learned how to quickly lock my phone in SOS mode,” he said.
Georgetown professors have even started offering reserve rooms to students who are worried about being visited by immigration agents in their residences, said Prof. Hashemi.
“This is part of the trauma that I think students are upright,” he said.
At Tufts University, outside Boston, Massachusetts, students are waiting to see what is happening with G -Jia Ozturk, which was detained outside their home.
Video shows Her confused and trembling with fear when she has been caught by agents while heading for a holiday for dinner in Ramadan. Last year, she co -authored an option supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel.
Tufts Anteri Mejr's doctor told the BBC that the actions had a “freezing effect” and that the international students who knew who left the country to visit the home or attend conferences are now afraid to return.
“There are students who work remotely because they are afraid that they cannot return to the country,” he said.
At the Texas University of Texas, rumors about the raids of immigration and customs application (ICE) on the campus are terrified by some students.
“I'm afraid to be out. I'm afraid to come to school. I'm afraid to go shopping with grocery,” the master said.
“I'm afraid that if I go, I will turn to agents in the clothes of incognito and ordinary disguise,” he continued.
Although he holds a green card and has not played a role in propalist protests on the campus, he says he is still in “crippling anxiety” because he has written things that are critical to the president.
“How far does this administration dig, for example, the history of the immigrant?” he asked. “Well, if I said something and I'm not aware.”