Every student should feel safe and protected by their college, regardless of their status as an international student. Recently, several state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Concord-based law firm Shaheen and Gordon have filed a lawsuit with the goal of protecting the legal status of international students, according to New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR).
Given recent events, such as the detainment of both Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, I think this course of action is necessary to protect international students here on a student visa.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been cracking down on those who oppose its right-wing opinions and sentiments. Öztürk was detained for an opinion piece, while Khalil’s crime was supporting the pro-Palestinian movement.
NHPR further states that many international students are now faced with the real threat of deportation, and that “The Associated Press put that number at more than 1,000 earlier this month.”
It’s clear that Trump, who was previously criticized in his last term for his views on immigration, has a vendetta against certain people. The fact of the matter, though, is these students are here legally and they deserve equal protection and rights alongside their peers.
It’s gotten to the point where, in the last few days, Khalil was even barred from attending the birth of his son due to his detainment.
“He is happy to be a father, but he’s extremely disappointed that he couldn’t be there to support his wife, be there to hold his first child,” an attorney for Khalil, Marc Van Der Hout, expressed on his client’s behalf. “And he had certainly hoped and expected that the government would show some humanity. But they did not.”
Humanity seems to be something that the Trump administration is largely lacking. This should never have gotten to the point that it has, with lawsuits being filed in the federal court simply as a way to keep students safe from detainment and deportation.
NPR states that secretary of state Marco Rubio “cited a rarely used statute that gives him wide authority to decide that a noncitizen’s presence in the U.S. threatens foreign policy goals — in this case, combating antisemitism worldwide,” due to Khalil’s pro-Palestine viewpoints.
This, in itself, incorrectly correlates the pro-Palestine movement with anti-semitic sentiments. While there is a capacity for overlap, the goal of the movement at large is to seek justice for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank whose land is being occupied by Israel, an occupation that many countries view as illegal.
The stance also calls for an end to the ongoing Gaza war, which has led to the deaths of innocent civilians on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
While this lawsuit is based around recent detainments in New England, including three from Rivier University in Nashua, the effects of the Trump Administration are being felt nationwide.
So many people are being affected by Trump’s policies, including Kseniia Petrova from Russia, a researcher for cancer detection who worked for Harvard and was sent to Louisiana after being detained.
Furthermore, if deported to Russia, Petrova risks harm at the hands of Russian authorities for her views on the war in Ukraine.
What Trump and his administration fail to recognize, or simply fail to care about, is that not everyone they plan to deport would be able to safely return to their home country without the threat of bodily harm. Clearly, Trump’s vendetta is more important than helping cancer patients and their families.
The fact of the matter is that these students and their viewpoints hold no clear threat to American safety in any sort of way. Instead, Trump risks their safety by forcibly detaining them and threatening to send them back to places that aren’t always safe to return to.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
cerno@kscequinox.com
