In the few months since Donald Trump’s inauguration, we seem to have new executive orders released every week, always accompanied by explosive reactions employing maximalist charges like “unconstitutional” and “authoritarian”. The most recent frenzy that has touched our campus most directly regards deportations and the newly strengthened restrictions of foreign student visas. Just last Thursday, UCLA confirmed that an unnamed graduate student was detained at the US-Mexican border for undisclosed reasons. This extremely vague information, amplified by the flashy headline “UCLA Student Detained at Border!”, prompted a protest that gathered in front of Murphy Hall, which holds UCLA Administration offices, and even attracted police attention with false active shooter rumors. It is important to note that this protest was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, a recently banned student organization due its radical support for terrorist groups and calls to exterminate Israel “from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea”. Their cooperation in the event is particularly troubling not only because of the group’s extremist ideology, but because it suggests an opportunistic attempt to hijack a trending issue and affix it to their own radical agenda. Furthermore, UCLA and the overall UC system have no authority over that of the Federal Government, rendering the protests futile and performative at best.
As of April 6, 2025, UCLA reported that a total of twelve students had their F-1 visas terminated, six of them being current students and the rest alumni. An F-1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa granted to foreign nationals who wish to study in the United States for an extended period of time. Loss of an F-1 visa essentially revokes a foreign student’s permission to remain in the US legally. An F-1 visa can be terminated when either the term of the visa expires or the student violates its conditions (i.e. working off-campus without permission, failing to maintain a full class load, etc.) or breaks US law. The State Department, headed by Sec. Marco Rubio, has reported over 300 of these international student visa revocations nationwide and has reinforced that the US government has no tolerance for noncitizens who violate US law. The exact number is unclear and varying reports count up to 1,500 revocations.
Constantly fed biased information that relies on emotional language, we are led to wonder: what is really behind the deportations and visa revocations of foreign students? Is this unprecedented or is there a legal basis? Is this a case of unjust restriction, or a necessary response to a quickly escalating epidemic of terrorist-sympathization?
The tightened visa revocations and subsequent deportations are a result of an Executive Order passed January 29, 2025 to combat antisemitism on college campuses. Section 3e of Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism states that “institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens” and invokes Title 8 of US Code, on Aliens and Nationality, subsection 1182(a)(3). The exact part of 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3) that refers to this is (B)(VII) which states that “an alien who endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” is ineligible to receive visa and be admitted into the United States. This sets legal grounds for revocation of foreign student visas if they violate the above mentioned terms by supporting recognized terrorist group Hamas.
This comes after thousands of students around the country rose in support of Hamas’s actions post October 7th, creating enormous disruptions and obstacles to the education and safety of Jewish students, particularly last spring. We at UCLA are especially familiar with this, having made headlines for being home to one of the country’s largest and most attention-grabbing pro-Hamas college encampments. An alarming amount of these protesters nationwide were in fact foreign students here on F-1 visas, so why must our American universities continue to protect and allow them to remain here when they have clearly breached the terms of their visa and harkened upon the education of American students?
It is no secret that the majority of pro-Palestinian protests that have occured since October 7th have made heinous attempts to demonize Israel and even justify Hamas’s despicable actions against Israel, including the brutal murder of a 9-month old and 4-year old, and are inherently antisemetic. According to Hillel International, there have been 1,537 reported incidents of antisemitism on campuses in the 2024-25 academic year (as of April) and 1,854 in the 2023-24 year. This is in comparison with 290 in 2022-23 and 224 in 2021-22. The data reflects that (reported) antisemitic incidents on campus have grown over 500% after October 7th as compared to previous years, an astronomical increase.
In the over 500 days since 10/7, we have seen encampments blocking off students from attending class, vandalization and occupation of buildings, celebrations of the “martyrs” of the “resistance”, grown men waving the Palestinian flag in the faces of Jewish students while proclaiming their love for Hamas leaders, the list goes on. It is evident that something had to be done to combat this disturbing behavior that much of the public has become desensitized to or even supportive of. Condemning antisemitism with words alone is no longer enough and we should all, regardless of political affiliation, be thankful that President Trump has finally initiated physical repercussions for students who outwardly champion terrorism, especially those who are not US citizens and have been extended the privilege to be educated in our great nation. Protesting in support of groups who explicitly express their hatred of America while legally being a guest of America is shameful behavior. This is not a restriction of their free speech, but rather a protection of the very principles that allow free speech to exist for the citizens of this country. Moreover, these are not at all new laws put forth by President Trump, but long-existing ones that the previous administration chose to ignore. As stated by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “…The last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, but that’s exactly what they are.” It is time we start enforcing American law and promoting societal moral upkeep. Without these measures, the freedoms we view as inherent cease to hold any value.
Cover image taken by author
The views expressed in this post reflect the views of the author(s) and not UCLA or ASUCLA Communications Board.
