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During thesecond presidency of Donald Trump, the United States has pursued a policy of targeting political dissidents, particularly pro-Palestinian international students and academics, for deportation.[1][2][3][4] As of April 17, 2025, over 1,000 international students and graduates had had their visas revoked or their status terminated,[5] and by May 15, 2025, almost 2,000 student visas had been canceled, though many had been restored by courts.[6] Many of the visas were revoked based on minor violations such as speeding tickets, and only in a handful was national security cited as the basis for revocation.[6] Unsealed court depositions have revealed extensive use of the websiteCanary Mission by the Trump administration to identify pro-Palestinian activists for deportation and the heavy involvement of Trump aideStephen Miller.[7]
The United States has long used its immigration policy as a tool for political control, particularly during theFirst andSecond Red Scare. During thePalmer Raids, hundreds of left-wing immigrants were deported due to their political activities. Deportation was used to circumvent their constitutional rights when they could not be charged with a crime in the domestic legal system. Fear of immigrant radicalism led to the passage of theImmigration Act of 1924 and theImmigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which expanded the powers of the government to investigate and deport immigrants for their political beliefs.[8]
In August 2015, during his2016 campaign, Trump proposed the mass deportation of illegal immigrants as a part of his immigration policy.[9] He proposed a "Deportation Force" to carry out this plan, modeled after the 1950s-era "Operation Wetback" program during theDwight Eisenhower administration that ended following a congressional investigation.[10] He returned to this idea during his2024 presidential campaign, and blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and has promised to deport both.[11] To achieve the goal of deporting millions per year, Trump stated his intent to expand deportations without due process, which would be accomplished by the expedited removal authorities of8 U.S. Code § 1225; invoking theAlien Enemies Act within theAlien and Sedition Acts of 1798; and invoking theInsurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military to apprehend migrants and thus bypass thePosse Comitatus Act.[12]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would be expanded to include workplace raids and sweeps in public places. Following arrest,Stephen Miller has stated that illegal immigrants would be taken to "large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas", to be held ininternment camps prior to deportation. Trump told a rally audience in September 2024 that the deportation effort "will be a bloody story."[13][14]
The administration is reportedly using an artificial intelligence "catch and revoke" program to scrape social media posts and identify students who allegedly support Hamas.[15] A number of detained and deported activists have been targeted bydoxing campaigns prior to their arrest.[16][17][18]
On March 25, 2025, the state department issued a directive stating that visa applicants would be ineligible if their social media activity indicated that they were "advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support a designated foreign terrorist organization", and that similar activity could result in the revocation of existing visas.[19] On April 9, 2025, theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will screen social media accounts for what it deems to be "antisemitic".[20][21]
The administration has focused its catch and revoke program on foreign students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian speech, characterizing them as pro-Hamas. The government plans to use itsStudent and Exchange Visitor Program to review institutions of higher education that have had significant pro-Palestinian protests, suggesting that it may decertify those institutions, making them ineligible to enroll student visa holders. Revocation of student visas also threatens a revenue stream for colleges and universities, with one senior Department of Justice official saying "That's one of their biggest cash cows, foreign students."[22]
On April 8, 2025, in response to the large number of student visa revocations,Inside Higher Ed started tracking the number of known visa revocations for students and recent alumni, and mapping the colleges and universities reporting visa revocations. As of the morning of April 9, the tracker showed 419 students and recent alumni from over 80 institutions of higher education across the U.S. In many cases, immigration authorities have not notified the institutions of the reasons for the visa revocations.[23]
On May 28, 2025, secretary of stateMarco Rubio announced that the US would "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students" and "revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong." China'sministry of foreign affairs formally objected to Rubio's announcement.[24]
On March 25, 2025, theAmerican Association of University Professors and theMiddle East Studies Association filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing that it is promoting an "ideological-deportation policy" that harms not only those the administration is attempting to deport, but also university communities more generally, and that pursuing students and faculty on the basis of their views is unconstitutional.[25] The plaintiffs, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute atColumbia University, filed their suit in theDistrict Court for the District of Massachusetts, and asserted that the policy violated theFirst andFifth Amendments. The case,American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, was assigned to JudgeWilliam Young.
The Trump administration moved that the case be dismissed for lack ofstanding, and also claimed that there was no ideological-deportation policy and that the district court didn't have jurisdiction over immigration enforcement. On April 30, 2025, Young dismissed the Fifth Amendment challenge, but ruled that the First Amendment challenge could proceed, saying "It is well established that noncitizens have at least some First Amendment rights, and political speech is 'at the core of what the First Amendment is designed to protect.'"[26]
On July 9, 2025, unsealed deposition transcripts by Judge Young revealed that the Trump administration heavily used the websiteCanary Mission to identify pro-Palestinian activists for deportation, and that Trump aide Stephen Miller was deeply involved in the effort.[7]
On September 30, 2025, Judge Young, calling the case "perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court," ruled that the government policy violated the US Constitution and was intentionally designed to chill the First Amendment rights of noncitizens legally present in the US. The plaintiffs and free speech advocates praised the ruling, which the administration was expected to appeal.[27]
Chung is a Columbia University student who came to the United States fromSouth Korea at age 7 and is a lawfulpermanent resident with a green card. On March 5, she was among a group of protesters arrested during a sit-in atBarnard College to express solidarity with students protesting the Gaza war who had been expelled. Charges against Chung were dropped. The government characterized the protest as "pro-Hamas," an argument which Chung's lawyer rejected, saying "The idea that a valedictorian just shows some humanity to fellow people is somehow a threat to U.S. foreign policy, and it really makes you wonder what's going on with our foreign policy."[28]
On March 10, federal law enforcement told her lawyer that her permanent resident status was being revoked. Agents searched for Chung at her dorm and her parents' home, though she was not there. Federal agents had searched for Chung at various Columbia residences pursuant to a federal criminal warrant for harboring out-of-status noncitizens.[29] Chung's lawyer filed a petition for a writ ofhabeas corpus in theDistrict Court for the Southern District of New York, and the case was assigned to judgeNaomi Reice Buchwald, who ruled that Chung could not be detained for the time being.[30][31][32] The stay on Chung's detention was extended in May,[28] and blocked by a federal court ruling in June.[33]
On March 27, 2025, Aditya Wahyu Harsono, an Indonesian citizen and hospital supply chain manager, had his visa revoked without notice[34] and was arrested by ICE at his workplace and detained in the basement of the hospital inMarshall, Minnesota before being transferred toKandiyohi County Jail. Harsono's attorney said that hospital management was coerced by ICE into staging a meeting so that he could be apprehended. Harsono was fired from his job following his arrest.[35] When Harsono attempted to tell ICE agents that he had legal status during his arrest, he was told that the system which could verify this was "down" for the day.[36] Harsono had been a participant in theDaunte Wright protests in 2021 where he was arrested for violating a curfew order.[37] He also frequently posted in support of Gaza on social media and runs a small nonprofit to raise money for aid to Gaza.[36] His arrest was denounced by the Minnesota Nurses Association.[38]
Harsono was ordered released by a district court judge on May 14 after 49 days in detention. The judge found that his arrest and detention were likely in retaliation for his political activities.[39]
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Mahmoud Khalil, astudent activist atColumbia University and lead negotiator inpro-Palestinian protests and campus occupations during theGaza war, was taken from his Columbia residential apartment building in New York City byU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8, 2025.[40][41][42] The agents did not have a warrant[43] and were acting on orders from theState Department to revoke Khalil'sstudent visa. When the agents were informed that Khalil is alawful permanent resident, they said that status would be revoked instead.[40] He was transported toLaSalle Detention Center inJena, Louisiana,[44] where he was held until being released on bail on June 20.[45]
The detention became the first publicly known deportation effort related to pro-Palestine activism during the presidency ofDonald Trump, who threatened to punish students and others for allegedly engaging in activities aligned toHamas.[40] Khalil's detention received widespread backlash from civil rights organizations, members of theDemocratic Party, and lawyers, who argue that it was an attack onfreedom of speech and theFirst Amendment.[46]
There is no criminal charge against Khalil.[47] Instead, the government's argument depends on a section of theCold War–eraImmigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA), which provides that aliens in the U.S. may be deported if thesecretary of state believes their presence will have serious negative consequences forU.S. foreign policy.[48][49] Several journalists and human rights organizations have noted this law's connection toMcCarthyism.[50][51]
On April 1, 2025, New Jersey federal district judgeMichael E. Farbiarz issued a stay on Khalil's deportation while the court considered the constitutionality of his arrest and detention.[52][53] Farbiarz later ruled that the relevant section of theINA was likely unconstitutional[54] and ordered that Khalil be released on bail.[55] After the government appealed, theThird Circuit ruled on January 15, 2026, that Khalil must exhaust theimmigration court system before resuming his case in the federal court system.[56]
On April 11, 2025,Louisianaimmigration judge Jamee E. Comans ruled that Khalil was deportable under Secretary of StateMarco Rubio's assertion that Khalil's continued presence posed "adverse foreign policy consequences". Comans said she had no authority to question that determination.[57][58] She later ruled that Khalil was deportable to Syria or Algeria on the basis that he had omitted information about his organization memberships when he applied for his green card.[59] Khalil is appealing to theBoard of Immigration Appeals.[59]
On March 14, 2025, theDepartment of Homeland Security announced that it had arrested another Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, for overstaying her student visa.[60] Kordia is aPalestinian from theWest Bank, who was residing inNew Jersey, and had been arrested in 2024 for her involvement in a protest for Gaza.[61] Her mother lived in Gaza, and Kordia was separated from her for 20 years. 200 of her extended family members living in Gaza have been killed since the start of the Gaza war.[62] Kordia was targeted by ICE after theNYPD shared information that it had gathered on her with the federal agency. This information is being used as evidence in her deportation case. This collaboration with ICE raised questions and concerns aboutNew York City not adhering to sanctuary laws intended to prevent local police with assisting in federal immigration enforcement efforts.[63] In April, a judge granted her bond, but the government invoked a rarely used provision to prevent her release while they appealed the decision.[64] In their appeal, DHS accused Kordia of supporting Hamas. She refuted these claims in court.[65] As of May 28, Kordia was being held at the Prairie Land Detention Center in Texas. Kordia said she was held in an overcrowded 37 person capacity cell with 86 other people for several weeks and forced to sleep on concrete. She said the bathroom was open with limited privacy.[65] She also said she was denied halal food, accommodations for fasting, and hijab and clothing accommodations. She had a hearing scheduled for June 5 in Dallas.[64] Her second hearing resulted in another order of her release, which was again appealed by ICE.[66] As of 24 December 2025, she was still in ICE detention. SenatorChris Van Hollen has called for her release.[62]
On April 14, 2025,Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia University student and 10-year resident in the United States who was seeking US citizenship, was arrested at the ICE office inColchester, Vermont after what he had been told would be a naturalization interview. While at Columbia, Mahdawi was one of the leaders of thepro-Palestinian protests. He had been targeted by pro-Israel groups and individuals online since 2024, includingCanary Mission and Betar. Mahdawi went into hiding following the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and asked Columbia administrators to assist him in finding a safe place to live, which they refused to do. He is facing a deportation order to theWest Bank, which he called "a death sentence" due to the ongoing and escalating Israeli incursions into the territory which have affected several members of his family.[67][68]
On April 14, 2025, Mahdawi's legal team filed ahabeas corpus petition againstDonald Trump and his administration, describing his detention as unlawful.[69] His lawyers requested a temporary restraining order to prevent him from being transferred out of Vermont by federal authorities. Vermont federal judgeWilliam K. Sessions III granted the request and ordered that Mahdawi remain in Vermont.[70] The case, in theDistrict Court for the District of Vermont, was reassigned to JudgeGeoffrey Crawford, and on April 30, Crawford granted Mahdawi's request to be released on bail, and said that the case raised a "substantial claim that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees."[71] The Trump administration appealed to theCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit, asking the court for an emergency stay of Crawford's ruling and challenging the determination that Crawford had authority to make such a ruling. The case was assigned to judgesSusan Carney,Alison Nathan, andBarrington Parker, and on May 9, they denied the appeal.[72]
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On March 25, 2025, following the revocation of herF-1 student visa, 30-year-oldTurkish national andTufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested by six maskedplainclothes agents from theUnited States Department of Homeland Security (DHS)Somerville, Massachusetts, before eventually being held in theSouth Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
Öztürk's arrest sparked condemnation from elected officials and others. Some accused theTrump administration of targeting students for their political views without due process, while others called it a violation ofcivil liberties. The incident also provokedprotests at Tufts University and across Massachusetts.
On May 9, Öztürk was released pending final decision on her legal case over her detention.
Srinivasan, an Indian national andFulbright scholar at Columbia, chose to self-deport after having her visa revoked. She had been previously detained during the Hamilton Hall protests, but all charges were dismissed. Her attorney said she was not a participant in the protests. Srinivasan was also accused without evidence of being a supporter of Hamas.[61][73]
Khan Suri, aGeorgetown University researcher fromIndia with a student visa, was detained by federal immigration authorities on March 17, 2025.[74] The government revoked his visa, but did not charge him with a crime. He has no criminal record. Khan Suri's lawyer argued in his petition to the court that Khan Suri was targeted because of his US citizen wife's Palestinian heritage and because the government suspects that the couple opposes US foreign policy.[74] A 2018 article about the couple in theHindustan Times said his wife's father served as a "senior political adviser to the Hamas leadership",[16] and a government spokesperson,Tricia McLaughlin, later accused him of "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism" and having connections to a terrorist. Khan Suri, his attorney and his wife disputed this characterization, saying that he made social media posts "expressing support for the Palestinian people, criticizing the death toll in Gaza, affirming international law principles, and criticizing U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza," but that he did not attend any protests, have contact with his father-in-law or express pro-Hamas or antisemitic sentiments.[75]
Khan Suri was held in Texas, where an immigration court hearing was scheduled for May 6.[76] The Georgetown chapter of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine organized a rally calling for his release.[77] In an open letter printed in the university's newspaper,The Hoya, a group of over 130 Jewish students, faculty, staff and alumni, condemned his arrest and detention, saying that "President Trump is weaponizing Jewish identity, faith and fears of antisemitism as a smokescreen for his authoritarian agenda".[76][78] Khan Suri petitioned a district court in Virginia to return him to that state,[79] and on May 14, JudgePatricia Tolliver Giles ordered Khan Suri's release from ICE detention.[80] Upon his release, Khan Suri decried the conditions of his detention, saying he was treated like a "subhuman" and treated as a high security prisoner. Khan Suri's habeas petition said that he was denied halal food, only given two hours of recreation time, and placed in a "TV room" without a bed or quiet conditions for sleeping.[75] The government then filed a motion in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, asking it to stay Tolliver Giles' release order while the government appealed her ruling, but on July 1, the appeals court denied that motion.[81]
Taal is aCornell University graduate student with dualUnited Kingdom andGambian citizenship. On March 22, 2025, he was told to surrender himself at the ICE office inSyracuse, New York. Taal's lawyers, fearing that he would be targeted by the Trump administration, preemptively filed a lawsuit asking a New York federal judge to strike downExecutive Orders 14188 and14161 targeting student protestors. Taal's lawyers have said that he has been surveilled by law enforcement.[82]
Taal faced suspension for allegedly attending a protest atStatler Hotel to shut down acareer fair where representatives fromBoeing andL3Harris were recruiting. Instead of a suspension, which could have impacted his visa status, university officials chose to ban him from campus.[83]
In February 2024, during a protest against the Cornell Student Assembly's rejection of a divestment resolution, Taal led chants outside Cornell's Day Hall and told the crowd "We are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea".[84] Taal elaborated on his views in an interview, saying that he didn't support any particular Palestinian militant faction, but rather "What I support is the Palestinian right to resist to colonialism, as guaranteed by international law and the principle of self determination."[85]
A Jewish colleague of Taal called accusations of antisemitism against him baseless, saying "I've always seen Momodou treat everyone with the utmost respect, and I think it's truly awful that these false accusations of antisemitism are being weaponized."[85]
On March 28, 2025, U.S. District JudgeElizabeth Coombe ruled against Taal, saying that his lawyers had neither established that she had jurisdiction to stop the deportation nor shown that there was any clear threat to his constitutional rights that would be addressed by the lawsuit.[86][87]
On March 31, 2025, Taal announced that he had voluntarily left the United States citing fears for his personal safety.[88]
Vizguerra, an activist for immigrant rights who came to the United States from Mexico in 1993 had obtained multiple stays of deportation under past administrations and gained a national profile in 2017 when she sought refuge from ICE in a Denver church. She was detained by ICE on March 17, 2025.[89] Her apprehension by ICE was denounced by local politicians and organizations includingJared Polis and Mike Johnston as a political persecution and urged ICE to focus on violent offenders, and US District Court Judge Nina Wang blocked her deportation.[90]
Vizguerra has described herself as a political prisoner, and she and her lawyers are contesting her deportation on the grounds that it is motivated by her protected political activities, not her immigration status. Vizguerra said that the ICE agent who arrested her had hersocial media pulled up on his phone. The Trump administration argued that as a noncitizen, Vizguerra had no legal basis to argue that her detention was politically motivated.[91] Vizguerra has also blamed the financial interests of private prison companies such asGEO Group and CCI Corporation for the Trump administration's efforts to fill detention beds.[92]
In May 2025,Maria Hinojosa was able to interview Vizguerra in the GEO Group run Aurora detention center where she was being held. Hinojosa, who has experience conducting prison interviews, said that the security and conditions in the detention center were harsher than in maximum security prisons.[93][94]
In December 2025, Vizguerra was released after 9 months and 7 days in detention.United States District Court for the District of Colorado judgeNina Y. Wang ruled that her prolonged detention was unconstitutional. In her court case, the government argued that Vizguerra should have to wear an ankle bracelet, but the judge did not grant this request. Vizguerra is required to check in with ICE in January, and must give 48 hours notice before crossing state lines.[92]
In early 2025, 12Ohio State University students' visas were revoked,[95][96] among them Ahwar Sultan, an Indian citizen and OSU graduate student, who had been arrested in 2024 in connection with theOSU Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Sultan later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the revocation of his immigration status.[96]
On April 25, 2025,Students for Justice in Palestine and allied campus organizations held a press conference outside Thompson Library in support of Sultan, with SJP co-president Jineen Musa among the organizers. According to OSUPD and university spokesperson Chris Booker, attendees were asked to comply with campus standards restricting amplified sound before 5:30 p.m. on weekdays but did not stop after being asked.[97]
After the event ended, Sultan and Musa were detained by police. Sultan was warned about, but did not receive,court summons. Musa was issued summons forcriminal trespass, despite attempts by university faculty to talk down OSU police.[98]
On May 2, 2025, ICE agents pulled over a bus carrying immigrant workers for Lynn-Ette & Sons who had been in a multi-year battle with their employer over unionization. The employees were from Mexico and Guatemala and were all employed as year-round workers. Sources in contact with the workers' families said that the raid "did not appear to be a broad sweep but rather a targeted enforcement aimed at specific people" and that the agents had a list of workers they expected to find on the bus. ICE did not identify themselves during the raid, but later confirmed they had been responsible for the arrests. As of May 5, five of the workers' locations were known while the other nine were unaccounted for. Lynn-Ette & Sons denied any prior knowledge or responsibility for the raid.[99]
In June 2025, José Ignacio "Nacho" De La Cruz and his stepdaughter Heidi Perez, both members of the farmworker-led immigrant rights group Migrant Justice, were violently arrested in Vermont by Border Patrol agents who smashed their car window and detained them.[100][101] According to a spokesperson for Migrant Justice, De La Cruz called a hotline for migrant workers and remained on the phone with them while "calmly exercising his right to remain silent, requesting that border patrol explain the cause of the traffic stop."[102] In court documents, De La Cruz said that CBP agents hurt him and Perez, and threatened to hurt them or retaliate against their families if they did not cooperate. He also alleged that an agent told them they had "no rights" and refused to allow them a phone call.[103] De La Cruz and Perez are in custody at Richford immigration station pending removal proceedings.[102] De La Cruz was a member of Migrant Justice's steering committee and a worker-owner in a Vermont construction cooperative. He helped pass legislation protecting the rights of farmworkers and dairy workers, such as the Vermont Housing Access for Immigrant Families bill.[104] Perez had advocated for the extension of need-based financial aid and in-state tuition to all state residents. Supporters said the pair were taking groceries to migrant workers afraid to leave their homes when CBP apprehended them.[105] CBP later accused De La Cruz of transporting other migrants within the United States,[106] but did not charge him with any crime based on this accusation. Migrant Justice spokesperson Will Lambek said that CBP's allegations "do not change the essential fact that Nacho and Heidi were detained without cause while delivering food to farmworkers," and that they were "wholly unrelated to the actual circumstances of their violent detainment." The pair's detention provoked rallies in support of their freedom at the Richford border station, the Vermont Statehouse, and a federal court in Burlington.[103]
Alfredo Juarez Zeferino is a farmworker and community organizer who helped foundFamilias Unidas por la Justicia and pass heat exposure regulation in Washington state.[107] On March 27, 2025, ICE agents stopped his car while he was driving his wife to work, broke his window, and dragged him out of the car. Zeferino was taken to an ICE facility inFerndale, and later to ICE's Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma. His lawyers and community members said that he was targeted for his activism.[108][109] His detention was denounced by local leaders, includingRick Larsen and mayor Kim Lund ofBellingham.[110] Zeferino was detained for 3 1/2 months in a Geo Group detention facility, and said he was given only six opportunities to go outside during his confinement. He also said he organized a hunger strike in response to being served unsafe chicken. In July 2025, he chose to voluntarily leave the United States for Mexico, citing the difficulties of fighting an immigration case in the US.[111]
Rasha Alawieh was born in 1990. She is a Lebanesetransplantnephrologist who had worked as anassistant professor atBrown University.[76] She is aShia Muslim.[112]
Alawieh obtained hermedical degree from theAmerican University of Beirut in 2015. She completed her residency at theAmerican University of Beirut Medical Center in 2018.[113] That year, she obtained aJ-1 visa[113] to enter the United States and completed fellowships atOhio State University and theUniversity of Washington.[114] She completed the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Program in June 2024, the same month the United States' government approved Alawieh's petition for an H-1B visa, sponsored by Brown Medicine.[115] This visa was issued at the Lebanese consulate on March 11, 2025, and was valid through mid-2027.[115]
Alawieh visited Lebanon in February 2025 to see relatives.[116] While in Lebanon, she attended thefuneral of Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader ofHezbollah.[117] Hezbollah has been deemed adesignated terrorist organization by theUnited States Department of State.[118] On March 14, 2025, Alawieh had returned to the U.S. on a flight landing atLogan International Airport inBoston. She was detained at the airport.[119] In her airport re-entry interview, she said she attended the funeral because of Nasrallah's religious position in the Shia community.[119] She said her family in Lebanon was not in Hezbollah, but supported it.[120] Alawieh admitted during questioning that she had sent some images of Hezbollah members.[121]
In October 2025, the US revoked the visas of at least six people over their comments following theassassination of Charlie Kirk. The State Department posted screenshots of social media posts by the six individuals from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Paraguay and South Africa, saying that they celebrated Kirk's killing.[122] One of the visa holders was Nhlamulo Baloyi, a music executive whose controversial comments aboutwhite South Africans led theSouth African Human Rights Commission to seek an apology after they attracted Elon Musk's attention in February.[123][124] Baloyi said that Kirk "won't be remembered as a hero" and "was used to astroturf a movement of white nationalist trailer trash!"[125] Brazilian comedian Tiago Santineli said that he did not regret making an aggressive joke on X that led to his visa's revocation.[124] Other posts that were targeted by the State Department drew attention to Kirk's views on race and women, and called him a fascist.[122]
Guevara worked in El Salvador until fleeing the country with his family in 2004 due to political persecution. He then became a resident in the United States, where he mostly reported on the topic of immigration inAtlanta.[126][127] He was nominated for and won multipleSoutheast Emmy Awards.[128][129][130][131] Guevara was ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge in 2012.[132][133] He worked forMundo Hispánico until foundingMG News in 2024.[134]
In the past, Guevara had spoken favorably of Republican candidates and policies. In 2022, he said that then-Republican gubernatorial candidateBrian Kemp'svictory over Democratic candidateStacey Abrams would prevent what he described as the Democratic Party's plan of "eradicating" the police in the state of Georgia, even though Abrams had in reality intended to increase police funding.[135] Guevara endorsed Republicaninsurance commissioner candidate John King, saying that "a lot of our Latino people are conservative" and wishing him four more years in office. In a Facebook live, Guevara said that "a lot of people talk about Republicans being racist... But frankly Georgia Republicans now aren’t the same" as before.[135]
After working as a reporter in Atlanta for about 18 years, Guevara was arrested byDoraville police during his coverage of aNo Kings protest in June 2025.[135][136] Charges against him were dropped and he was taken intoICE custody in order to undergo deportation proceedings. The case was appealed and subsequently closed. Guevara held awork visa and had a pendinggreen card application as of September 2025.[137][138]
Guevara's case garnered a large number of followers on social media due to his coverage of immigration raids.[131] He remained in detention for over 100 days.[136][130][127][139] TheACLU described his detention and prosecution as political censorship.[130][140] His detention was opposed by theUniversity of Georgia's First Amendment Clinic,[141] theSociety of Professional Journalists, theCommittee to Protect Journalists[142] and other journalistic freedom organizations.[130]
Guevara was deported to El Salvador in October 2025.[143]
On October 26, 2025, the British political commentator and critic of IsraelSami Hamdi was taken into ICE detention atSan Francisco International Airport while on a speaking tour of the US. ICE stated Hamdi's visa had been revoked and he was being held for removal.[144] Far-right political influencerLaura Loomer took credit for Hamdi's arrest.[145] TheCouncil on American-Islamic Relations called for Hamdi's release, describing his arrest as "a blatant affront to free speech."[146]
In July 2025, Ohio hospital chaplain and Egyptian political asylee Ayman Soliman was detained by ICE at a regular immigration check-in.[147] Soliman sought asylum in the United States after working as a freelance journalist in Egypt during theArab Spring. He was tortured under theMubarak regime, and abducted again following the2013 military coup againstMohammed Morsi. Soliman's lawyers believed his detention in the United States was related to his work with an Egyptian charitable organization that DHS alleged was associated with theMuslim Brotherhood.[148] Two academics cited in the government case said that their work was misrepresented to justify detaining Soliman.[149] Soliman called his experience in detention "traumatizing and dehumanizing" and said he was denied commissary, contact with his lawyer and visitation while in isolation for five days.[147] Soliman lost his job while in detention, as did two of his fellow chaplains who spoke out against his detention.[150][151] Soliman was released in September and is expected to have his visa status restored. Immigration officials likely concluded that they did not have a case to revoke his visa.[148]
In April 2025, waves of visa revocations and SEVIS terminations sparked widespread alarm and protest from student groups across university campuses in the United States. On April 10, approximately 150 students and affiliates fromUC San Diego marched from the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla to the San Diego Federal Courthouse to demand protections for international students led by theStudents' Civil Liberties Union.[152] On April 12, students and faculty with theUCLA Faculty Association,Students for Justice in Palestine, and theCSU Students for Quality Education organized a rally of over 150 attendees in Downtown Los Angeles in opposition to the mass termination of SEVIS in higher education institutions.[153]
On April 17, it was reported that at least 901 international students at 128 colleges and universities in the United States had filed lawsuits against the Trump administration for a denial of due process in relation to these revocations.[154]
On April 22, 2025, over 200 higher educational institutions signed a letter pledging to resist Trump's attacks on universities, including the deportation of students. The leaders of several prominent universities includingHarvard University, theUniversity of Pennsylvania,Massachusetts Institute of Technology andYale University signed the letter. Columbia University was initially absent from the list, but signed after it went public.[155]
In August 2025, theStanford Daily sued the Trump administration over its deportation policy, saying that student journalists felt intimidated by the possibility of facing deportation "for being associated with speaking on political topics, even in a journalistic capacity."[156] The lawsuit requested a preliminary injunction that would prevent the administration from deporting students over their pro-Palestinian speech and activities.[157]
He has not been charged with any crime.
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