Immigration officers arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University. by screenshot

By Louis Keene March 24, 2025

President Donald Trump vowed to fight antisemitism on campus, and in recent weeks his administration has ordered the deportation of at least nine university students or professors who are accused of engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”

While none has been convicted of a crime — and two are legal permanent residents — immigration officials have invoked a rarely used provision in immigration law that allows the Secretary of State to deport noncitizens if their presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

Here are the students and professors who have been affected.

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Mahmoud Khalil

Background: Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate student who led pro-Palestinian protests at the school, was arrested March 8 and briefly held in New Jersey before being transferred to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. Khalil, an Algerian citizen born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria in 1995, is married to a U.S. citizen.

Legal status: He has been a green card holder since 2024, making him a legal permanent resident; green cards can be revoked if their holder violates immigration law or is convicted of a crime.

Latest: A judge has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Khalil, who is still being held. A separate judge ruled March 19 that he must be held in New Jersey.

Ranjani Srinivasan

Background: Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia doctoral student in urban planning, self-deported to Canada March 11 after ICE officers visited her home without a warrant. Srinivasan, a citizen of India, had been accused of participating in the takeover of Hamilton Hall last year — which she denies — and the Department of Homeland Security said she has been “involved in activities supporting Hamas,” including sharing or liking social media posts related to Palestinians in Gaza.

Legal status: Srinivasan was in the U.S. on a student visa, which was revoked in March.

Latest: “I’m not a ‘terrorist sympathizer,'” Srinivasan said in a March 17 interview with CBS Mornings, referencing a statement from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “So, I just find it kind of absurd.” She said she fled to Canada fearing detention.

Leqaa Kordia

Background: Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested March 14 by ICE agents from the Newark field office for overstaying her visa. Kordia had previously been arrested in 2024 for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City.

Legal status: Kordia’s student visa expired in 2022 due to “lack of attendance.”

Latest: Kordia is being held at an ICE detention facility in Texas.

Rasha Alawieh

Background: Alawieh, a physician and professor at Brown University, was deported upon arrival in Boston from her home country of Lebanon, where she had allegedly attended the funeral of assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Though a federal judge had forbidden Alawieh’s deportation, Customs and Border Patrol detained her at the airport and searched her phone, which they said contained “sympathetic photos and videos” of Hezbollah leaders.

After what she said was a 36-hour detainment at the airport, during which she was prevented from contacting her attorney, she boarded a plane to Lebanon.

Alawieh said that as a Sunni Muslim, she followed Nasrallah’s religious beliefs but did not support his politics.

Legal status: Alawieh, 34, was in the U.S. on an H-1B visa, typically granted to foreign workers with specialized skills. Her colleagues said she was one of the only transplant nephrologists in Rhode Island.

Latest: A federal judge is giving immigration officials a week to explain why they deported Alawieh in spite of the court order forbidding them from doing so.

Badar Khan Suri

Background: Suri was arrested at his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on March 17. A foreign exchange student researching peace-building processes in Iraq and Afghanistan, Suri is alleged to have spread Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media. His lawyer says he’s being punished because of his wife, who is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage, and his father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, who is a former political adviser to assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Some footage of Georgetown scholar Dr. Badar Khan Suri's ICE arrest has been released.

The ACLU says he's faced religious discrimination, harsh detention conditions and severe family trauma, despite his lawful U.S. status—raising urgent human rights concerns. pic.twitter.com/aOGRZEufxr

— Zeteo (@zeteo_news) April 8, 2025

Legal status: Suri, an Indian national, was on a J-1 visa, typical for foreign exchange students.

Latest: Suri is being held in a detention center in Louisiana.

“If an accomplished scholar who focuses on conflict resolution is whom the government decides is bad for foreign policy, then perhaps the problem is with the government, not the scholar,” Hassan Ahmad, Suri’s lawyer, said Wednesday.

Momodou Taal

Background: ICE has sought the arrest of Taal, a Ph.D. student at Cornell University who in 2024 led a shutdown of a career fair that featured weapons manufacturers. He also tweeted “colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary” and “Glory to the resistance!” following the Oct. 7 attacks. (He later told CNN, “I can say clearly categorically I abhor the killing of all civilians no matter where they are and who does it.”)

Betar USA, a militant pro-Israel organization classified as a hate group by the ADL, has taken credit for referring Taal to the State Department.

Legal status: Student visa

Latest: A hearing was held March 25 in a lawsuit Taal filed preemptively seeking to block his arrest.

Update:

Eid Mubarak

Long live the student intifada! pic.twitter.com/LDwKS9SG6C

— Momodou ✊🏿 (@MomodouTaal) March 31, 2025

Yunseo Chung

Background: A junior at Columbia University, Chung, 21, is a legal permanent resident who has lived in the United States since she was 7. The Trump administration has sought to deport Chung because she participated in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Unlike Khalil, Chung does not appear to have been a leader of the protests, but she was arrested by police March 5 outside a building where pro-Palestinian protesters were conducting a sit-in. (She was given a desk appearance ticket and released.)

Legal status: Green card holder

Latest: A judge ruled March 25 that Chung cannot be detained while the government awaits a ruling on her deportation order. Chung sued to block the order on the basis of the First and Fifth Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Rumeysa Ozturk

Background: Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts, was arrested March 25 outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts. Video of the arrest showed a man wearing a hood approaching her as she walked along the sidewalk, then grabbing her and putting her in cuffs as she cried for help. Ozturk had written an opinion article for the school newspaper last year referring to Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide.”

Canary Mission, a group that identifies pro-Palestinian activists on campus, had posted a picture of Ozturk on its website, saying that she had “engaged in anti-Israel activism.”

Legal status: Student visa

Latest: Ozturk’s lawyer said March 26 she was unaware of her whereabouts.

Alireza Doroudi

Background: Doroudi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, was arrested Tuesday, the school’s student newspaper reported. It is unclear why he was detained.

Legal status: Student visa

Latest: The ICE inmate locator does not say where Doroudi is being held.

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