On Thin ICE: International Student Perspectives on ICE Arrests
- Julia Mehlman
- 6 minutes ago
- 4 min read
5C international students share their perspectives on the recent ICE arrests.
In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revoked hundreds of student visas on college campuses across the country for alleged involvement with terrorist activities. Among the most notable cases are Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, and Rumeysa Ozturk, a former PhD student at Tufts University. Their arrests, and others, have rattled the international student community, including at CMC and the other 5Cs.
Khalil’s green card was revoked after being accused of “[leading] activities aligned to Hamas,” said Homeland Security Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. Ozturk’s arrest, viral on social media, came after she was detained by unmarked ICE officers. Some have speculated, without confirmed evidence, that her arrest was tied to an article she wrote in the Tufts Daily Newspaper calling for Tufts to divest from organizations associated with what she called the “Palestinian genocide.”
These arrests are part of a broader policy shift on immigration from the Trump Administration. In January, a White House Fact Sheet declared that the federal government would revoke the visas of “Hamas sympathizers” and deport “pro-jihadist protests.” Senator Marco Rubio added in a briefing to reporters that “No one has a right to a student visa” or a “green card.”
In the past week, the Trump administration has reinstated some of these visas. Before visas began to be reinstated, The Forum spoke to a number of international students across the Claremont Colleges, who shared their feelings about the ongoing visa revocations.
At the Claremont Colleges, the impact of these developments on student morale is mixed. Some students have expressed a growing sense of vulnerability while others say they are not worried at all. At CMC, Executive Vice President and COO Sharon Basso sent out an email in March announcing a new policy requiring the school to “Identify Undocumented Individuals on Campus.” Follow-up emails as recently as this week have outlined support resources, including access to legal consultation and informational sessions on visa compliance and tax filings.
“For the most part, I don’t think about it,” one international student said. “I haven’t gone to any protests, I went to the consulate to get my visa lawfully, I pay my full tuition. I feel like that gives me a safety blanket.”
“I think about it every day,” said another. “I feel like one slip-up and I’m out.”
Several students noted that self-censorship is already a reality among international peers, regardless of political climate. “Safeguarding myself is something I’ve thought about since coming here,” one student shared. Speaking about censorship before the policy changes, they added, “One of the first things we talk about in orientation is not getting arrested because you could get deported.”
A common theme among interviewees was unease around political expression. Some students said they avoided protests entirely. Others felt pressure to participate online even if they remained physically distant. “I wasn’t gonna protest in the first place because I could get arrested,” one student explained. “But I posted about [the Israel-Palestine conflict] because of the social pressure from my peers at school to do it. I don’t know if I even believed in it at the time, but I regret it now.”
Students also highlighted that fears are not evenly distributed across identity groups. Those who felt as though they did not appear international immediately, either because of their skin color or their American-esque accent reported to feel much safer than others.
Likewise, many students expressed lingering distrust with the colleges, citing the arrests of 20 Pomona students in April 2024. Now, however, many students understood that their colleges were legally bound to comply with the Trump Administration’s disclosure requirements. Some students expressed a desire for the school to take action to protect international students but were unclear what such action would look like.
CMC Government Professor George Thomas emphasized that while noncitizens may have more limited legal protections than citizens, they are still entitled to some constitutional safeguards. “All persons are entitled to due process, citizens or noncitizens,” he explained.
From a constitutional standpoint, he added, “There is a debate about whether visa holders have fewer free speech rights than citizens. But generally, once people are in the country, we don’t attach conditions that limit the speech they can engage in.” If some of these legal residents prove to be engaged in terrorism, that would be grounds for deportation assuming it violated the conditions of their Visa or Green Card, he noted. But “the government needs to make their case. Bring them to court. Charge them with something.”
For many students, their questions are as much logistical as philosophical. Some wonder whether the move is connected to the elimination of DEI programs across the country. Others are wondering how “bad” of a crime they have to commit to get deported.
“Ultimately I think this is going to be to the detriment of the country as a whole, and may even strengthen America's international rivals who could use this as an opportunity to attract top international student prospects who may be fearful of their safety in the U.S.,” said international student Umer Lakhani, a CMC student from the class of 2025.
Out of dozens of international students contacted for this story, most declined to speak and only one student agreed to have their name appear. As one student put it: “The stakes are so much higher for us.”