BBC News, Washington, DC, Boston
BBCOver the past few weeks, many foreign students living in the US have seen a series of events repeat themselves on social media feeds. Plaincross agents take students to the detention center in undisclosed cars, which appear to be unreleased.
Those detained in a series of famous student detentions filmed in the video were not facing criminal charges and instead targeted their involvement in the pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said that visas are “privileged” and could be revoked at any time for a variety of reasons.
However, more than 1,000 international students or recent graduates from US universities have revoked their visas or changed their legal status, according to trackers from Inside Higher ED, an online news site covering the sector.
In many cases, the exact reason is unknown, and universities often only learned the changes when checking government-run databases that record the visa status of international students.
A combination of targeted detention and reporting on wider visa revocations left the campus on the edge, from the largest public universities to elite Ivy League institutions, students and faculty told the BBC.
“I can come next,” said a student visa holder, attending Georgetown University, who wrote an article about the wars in Israel and Gaza.
He began bringing cards in his pockets listing his constitutional rights in case law enforcement stopped him.
Another Texas student said he was afraid to leave his apartment to buy groceries.
And in some universities, the department is being attacked as international researchers refuse to return to the US.
Most students spoke to request anonymity out of fear that naming the media could be a target for the BBC.
The BBC contacted the Ministry of Education for comment.
There are many reasons for canceling your visa. In some cases, criminal history appears to be a factor. Other instances reportedly contain minor legal violations, such as driving above the speed limit. But “many” of targeted people are involved in the pro-protests in Palestinians, Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself said.
This is part of a wider White House push to crack down on protesters, officials say, who have created an unsafe environment for Jewish students on many campuses. They also accus the protesters of expressing their support for Hamas, the officially designated terrorist group.
“Every time I find one of these insane people, I take their visas,” Rubio told reporters in late March. “We do that every day.”
Civil Liberties Groups are in motion to protest detention to deport student demonstrators as a violation of their constitutional rights. And the students themselves have rejected the association with Hamas and say they are targeted for political speeches about the war in Gaza and the US support for Israel.
In Georgetown, signs read as “protecting our students” have been recorded on bathroom stall doors, adding a sense of darkness to cherry trees and tulips, generally marking the arrival of spring on campus.
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral researcher at the university, was grabbed by a federal agent outside his Virginia home in March. The Department of Homeland Security accused conflict resolution researchers of “promoting anti-Semitism on social media” and having ties to “known or suspicious terrorists.”
This was an obvious reference to the Palestinian father of his US-born wife, the former adviser who killed Hamas leader Ismail Hanie.
Suri's lawyer says he only met his stepfather a few times and is being targeted because of his wife's identity.
His detention followed the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the organizer of the student protest at Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil was arrested at his New York home, but is awaiting deportation from his Louisiana facility.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University, co-authored the student newspaper Op-Ed on Gaza, has been detained in Massachusetts and is also in custody in Louisiana.
Last Monday, Colombian student protester Mohsen Mahadawi was taken into custody in Vermont when he attended an interview to obtain US citizenship. Like Mr. Halil, he has a green card rather than a student visa.
“I think anyone who has spoken outright about Palestine based on the detention we see could be detained,” said a Georgetown student who knew Mr. Suri.
The White House says it is chasing people involved in activities that “counter” US national interests. In Mr. Halil's case, authorities cite the 1952 law, ordering the government to order someone to deport the country if its presence within the country could have a disadvantage on US foreign policy.
In a post from X, the Colombian Jewish Alumni Association celebrates Khalil's arrest and calls him the university's “trembling mastermind.”
Polls show that immigration is an issue where President Trump enjoys some of his highest recognition ratings, with a recent Reuters and the AP-NORC survey suggesting that around half of US adults have approved actions in the area, a few points higher than his overall rating.
The university also covers institutional levels. This week, the White House task force froze over $2 billion in Harvard fundraising, and the Task Force on the Fighting against Anti-Semitism.
Trump officials say if Harvard does not comply with requests for information about certain students' visa holders, they will stop granting visas to international students who want to study there.
Georgetown professor Nader Hashemi said he believes the government's main goal is to “silence the objections” by threatening protesters.
A Georgetown student says he asked his parents not to fly from India to the US to graduate with a master's degree in just a few weeks. He is still not sure if he will attend the ceremony.
In addition to checking his emails daily to see if he's among the hundreds who recently revoked their visas, he's also prepared for the possibility of a sudden arrest.
“I cleared chats between messaging apps and learned how to quickly lock my phone in SOS mode,” he said.
Professors in Georgetown have begun offering spare rooms to students worried about housing immigration agents visiting, Professor Hashemi said.
“This is part of the trauma students think they are facing,” he said.
At Tufts University, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, students are waiting to see what happens to Ms. Ozturk, who is detained outside her home.
The video shows her shaking in confusion and terror as she is intercepted by her agents while she is heading for the Ramadan dinner celebration. Last year, she co-authored OP-ED, supporting the Boycott, Selling and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Tufts PhD student Anteri Mejr told the BBC that the action had “a calm effect,” and that international students who left the country to visit their homes and attend meetings are afraid to return.
“We have students working remotely because they are afraid they won't be able to return to the country,” he said.
At the University of Texas, rumors about immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) attacks on campus have terrified some students.
“I'm scared of going out. I'm scared of coming to school. I'm scared of going out shopping,” said the master's program there.
“If I'm walking, I'm worried that I'll be approached by an agent dressed in secret clothes and simple disguise,” he continued.
Despite being a green card holder and not playing a role in the pro-Palestinian protests on campus, he still says it “damages anxiety.”
“How deep does this administration delve into the history of immigration?” he asked. “If I'm saying something and I don't notice.”
