How the U.S. Betrayed International Students
(TIME | April 29, 2025) Momodou Taal, a Cornell University international student who brought a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, didn’t appear for his March 25 court hearing in Syracuse, N.Y. The day before he filed the lawsuit, which requested an injunction on two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders for allegedly violating speech and due process rights, the U.S. government had revoked Taal’s student visa and soon after, commenced deportation proceedings.
I attended the hearing in Syracuse where I live and work as a professor, one of many members of the public who filled the gallery of the courtroom that afternoon. Taal’s absence served as a chilling reminder of the dire situation students like him face in the wake of Trump’s immigration policy; appearing could have meant Taal’s immediate arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The hearing was partly meant to address Taal’s request for a temporary restraining order on his arrest and deportation proceedings, which the court ultimately denied. Days later, he left the country of his own accord.
Taal is now one of many international students who have criticized the U.S. government and Israel while studying in the U.S. and since, had their ability to stay in the country jeopardized. Ranjani Srinivasan, a Fulbright recipient and Columbia University international student from India decided to self-deport to avoid detention after her visa was revoked. And Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University was surrounded and taken on the street by masked agents. These are just a couple of the cases that have been made known to the public. Widespread reports reveal that ICE agents are targeting these students and throwing them into detention.
“Taal’s absence served as a chilling reminder of the dire situation students like him face.”
On March 27, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced that some 300 international students already have had their visas revoked this year, caught in the crosshairs of the attacks on political dissent, noncitizens, and higher education. In the following weeks it was revealed that the Trump Administration had terminated the immigration records of approximately 4,700 international students. Then, last week, the Trump Administration abruptly reversed their policy and the Department of Justice announced that ICE would reinstate their immigration records. But for many affected students, the path forward remains uncertain …