6 events in Passaic County with a date

Can the US revoke visas of students?

Pro-Palestinian protesters under fire

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... President Donald Trump's pledge to revoke stunt visas of Pro-Palestinian protesters sparked outcry over threats to free speech and legal debates over constitutionally.
..... Even as the measure was debated, federal officials were already canceling visas for some students who have traveled outside the United States, due to their activism, the American-Arab anti-discrimination Committee, a legal advocacy group, said Wednesday. [02/12/2025]
..... Hearing more and more aboard and are unable to return after trip abroad visas got canceled," Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC, wrote on X.
..... It started during the Biden administration, Ayoub said, noting habitat the ADC heard from a few students who were barred form reentry after winter-break. No explicit reason was given, but they had a shared pattern of pro-Palestinian activism on campuses.
..... "I've seen enough to know targeting is happening," Ayoub said, concerned that such cases would grow under the Trump administration.
..... President Donald Trump singed an executive order January 29 [2025] that aims to tackle an "explosion in antisemitism" after the October 7 [2023] Hamas attack on Israel, in part by revoking visas of student protesters. A related order, signed nine days earlier, calls for canceling visas and deporting non-citizens who are deemed "hostile" to the United States or sympathetic to terrorism.
..... "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in a fact sheet about the executive order. "I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses,. which have been infested with radicalism like never before."
..... The measure have sparked worry on college campuses, where thousands of protests have taken place calling for an end to war in Gaza and for colleges to divest form Israel. Some traditional students say they are lying low, keeping off social media and staying away form protests.
..... One South Asian student at a New Jersey college said he had gotten strict orders form his family back home to avoid political events and be in his dorm by 7 PM. The curfew means he'll miss special night prayers with fellow Muslims during the holy moths of Ramadan for the first time in 10 years. He will pray alone.
..... Even though he is in the country legally, the student was rattled by reports of immigration raids and did not want to take chances.
..... "It makes me feel like I an in a prison," said the student, who did not feel safe giving his name or identifying his school. "I am not allowed to do things say things, and my movements are restricted."

Debate on political expression

..... Non-citizens convicted of crimes were already at risk of deportation, but politician expression is protected under the law, legal experts said.
..... "The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at cameraman universities," Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, said in a statement. "Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional."
..... Still, the federal federal government does have "significant authority over those who may enter and stay in the country," and court cases around the issue are complicated, said the Foundation for Individual Rights and expression.
..... Trump implied that he will use a federal law that allows for deportation of a non-citizen who "endorse or espouses terrorist activity,"
..... The idea was floated in his first term as president, but government lawyers opined in memos that it would likely be unconstitutional, the Knight First Amendment Institute found through public records requests.
..... Many Jewish groups welcomed the order to fight antisemitism, which calls for the Justice Department to "aggressively prosecute terrorist threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" who "have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination." But they were divided ever calls to deport anti-Israel protesters, warning that eroding democratic rights would also hurt Jews.
..... The order also calls for the expansion of civil right investigations against colleges and universities, using a controversial definition of antisemitism that consider some criticisms of Israel - such as calling it a "racist endeavor" - as evidence of discrimination. It suggests, too, that universities should monitor their international students' activities and report on them to the federal government.
..... Advocates raised concerns about free speech and targeting of protests that have been mostly peaceful. Trump's words also appear to have emboldened harassment against protesters, as vigilantes show up at events threatening to identify them and report them to authorities.
..... In one such incident, the far-right group Betar US went to a New York City vigil for Hind Rijab, a 6-year-old girl from Gaza who was killed along with six family members and tow paramedics who tried to save her. The group said it would "document all attendees and even those in keffiyaha and masks" and was using facial recognition technology to compile lists of names.
..... At the vigil, hecklers yelled at the crowd. "show your face so we can get you deported," and IE, ICE, ICE,: referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Warnings for students

..... Some advocacy groups are issuing warnings. The ADC advised international students to "use free speech wisely" and avoid arrest or civil disobedience; to avoid engagement with unknown groups; to avoid traffic stops, and not to speak to authorities without a lawyer, they also discourage international travel.
..... "Avoid international travel during the semester, unless it;s absolutely necessary," Ayoub wrote. "It's just not worth the risk."
..... He called on U.S. officials to offer guidance or clarity on the matter before the summer, [2025] when thousands of international students are expected to travel abroad.
..... The Council on American-Islamic Relations also warned non-citizens to take precautions.
..... "If the protest escalates into a threatening or violent situation, or if continued participation could lead to potential legal violations or arrest, it is advisable to consider withdrawing from the protest," the Muslim advocacy group said.
..... "Students who are not citizens should also exercise caution in their speech on social media and in public spaces."
..... "It's going to put a chill on free speech for sure," said Carissa Cunningham, a Rutgers doctoral student and lecturer in political science at SUNY Purchase in Westchester. [NY] "That's what I would expect, especially going after our most vulnerable students, the one son visas."
..... But Cunningham and activists at two other New Jersey universities said the measure would not hamper the larger protect movement, noting that most participants are U.S. citizens, and that they have long faced intense scrutiny.

HOME