Fear for US colleges as authorities detain foreign students, revoke dia visas

For di last few weeks, many foreign students wey dey live for US don watch as a series of events don repeat imsef on dia social media feeds: plain-clothes agents show unannounced and drag students put inside unmarked cars to detention centres.

Those wey dem don take into custody for one string of high-profile student detentions bin dey captured on video neva face any criminal charges and instead show to don dey sake of dem get hand for one pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

Di Trump administration don tok am plenti time say visas na "privilege" and fit dey revoked at any time for different reasons.

But di crackdown come show to dey far wider dan pipo bin think, wit more dan 1,000 international students or recent graduates for colleges across di US wey now don get dia visas revoked or legal status change, according to one tracker from Inside Higher Ed, for online news site wey dey cover di sector.

For many, dem no sabi di real reasons, and universities don often only learn of di changes wen dem dey check one govment-run database wey dey log di visa status of international students.

Di combination of targeted detentions and reports of wide-scale visa revocations don leave campuses on edge, from di biggest public universities to elite Ivy League institutions, students and faculty bin tell di BBC.

"I fit be di next," one student visa-holder wey dey attend Georgetown University, wey don write articles about Israel and di war in Gaza tok.

E don begin carry around card for im pocket wey dey list im constitutional rights, in case e ever dey stopped by law enforcement.

Anoda student for Texas say e dey fear to leave im apartment, even to buy food stuff.

And for some colleges, departments dey hit as researchers abroad no gree return to di US.

Most students wey di BBC bin tok to dey request anonymity out of fear say if dem get dia names in di media fit make dem target.

Di BBC don contact di Department of Education for comment.

Di reasons for visa cancellation dey different. For some cases, criminal records show to be factor. Oda instances don reportedly include minor legal infractions like driving over di speed limit. But "a lot" of those wey dey targeted don dey involved for pro-Palestinian protests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio imself don tok.

Na part of one wider White House push to crack down on protesters wey officials say bin create unsafe environment for Jewish students on many campuses.

Dey also accuse demonstrators say dem show support for Hamas, one officially designated terrorist group.

"Evri time wey I find one of dis lunatics, I dey take away dia visas," Rubio bin tell reporters for late March. "We dey do am every day."

Civil liberties groups don protest di detentions and moves to deport student demonstrators as violation of constitutional rights. And di students demsefs don reject associations wit Hamas, say e dem dey targeted for political speech about di war in Gaza and US support for Israel.

For Georgetown, dem don tape signs wey read "protect our students" to di doors of bathroom stalls, add one sense of gloom to di cherry blossom trees and tulips wey bin typically mark di arrival of spring on campus.

Federal agents grab one postdoctoral fellow from di university, Badar Khan Suri outside im Virginia home for March.

Di Department of Homeland Security bin accuse di conflict resolution researcher say e dey "promote antisemitism on social media" and get links to one "known or suspected terrorist".

Dis na obvious reference to di Palestinian father of im US-born wife, one former adviser to killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Oga Suri lawyers say e don only meet im father-in-law a handful of times and dey targeted sake of im wife identity.

Im detention bin follow dat of Columbia University student protest organiser Mahmoud Khalil, one permanent resident wey chop arrest for im house in New York but now dey wait deportation from one facility for Louisiana.

Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, wey bin co-author one student newspaper op-ed about Gaza and dey detained for Massachusetts, also dey detention for Louisiana.

Last Monday, Mohsen Mahdawi, anoda Columbia student protester, bin dey detained for Vermont as e attend one interview to obtain US citizenship. Like Oga Khalil, e get green card, rather dan student visa.

"Based on di detentions wey we dey see, I think say possibility dey say anyone wey don dey outspoken about Palestine fit dey detained," di Georgetown student, wey sabi Oga Suri tok.

Di White House tok say dem dey go afta those wey bin don dey involve for activities wey "run counter" to US national interests. In Oga Khalil case, officials don cite one 1952 law wey empower di govment to order someone deported if dia presence in di kontri fit pose unfavourable consequences for US foreign policy.

For one post on X, di Columbia Jewish Alumni Association bin celebrate Oga Khalil arrest, call am di "ringleader of chaos" for di university.

Poll suggests say immigration na issue wia President Trump enjoy some of im highest approval ratings, wit recent Reuters and AP-NORC surveys wey suggest say about half of US adults approve of action for dat area, some points dey higher dan im overall rating.

Universities also dey targeted for institutional level. Dis week, di White House task force on combating antisemitism bin freeze over $2bn for funding for Havard University, afta di university no gree to one list of demands wey dem tok say fit amount to make dem "surrender dia independence".

Trump officials don tok say if Harvard no comply wit one request for information on certain student visaholders, dem go stop to grant visas to international students wey wan study there.

Georgetown professor Nader Hashemi say e believe say govment main goal na to "silence dissent" by intimidating would-be protesters.

Di Georgetown student say e don ask im parents make dem no fly from India to di US to see am graduate wit master's degree in just a few weeks. E still never sure if e go even attend di ceremony.

To add to how e dey check im email daily to see if e dey among di hundreds wey don get dia visas revoked recently, e don also prepare for di possibility of sudden arrest.

"I don clear my chats across messaging apps, and I don learn how to quickly lock my phone for SOS mode," e tok.

Georgetown professors even begin offer spare rooms to students wey dey worry about visit by immigration agents for dia residences, Prof Hashemi tok.

"Dis na part of di trauma wey I think students dey face," e tok.

For Tufts University, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, students dey wait to see wetin go happun to Ms Ozturk, wey dey detained outside her home.

Video show her confused and dey shake in fear as agents catch am while she dey go one Ramadan dinner celebration.

Last year, she bin co-author one op-ed wey dey support di boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) movement against Israel.

Tufts PhD student Anteri Mejr bin tell di BBC say di actions don get "chilling effect", and say international students wey she know wey don leave di kontri to visit home or attend conferences now dey fear to return.

"E get students wey dey work remotely sake of say dem dey fear say dem fit dey say dem fit no fit get back in di kontri," e tok.

For di University of Texas, rumours about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on campus dey make some students fear.

"I dey fear to go out. I dey fear to come to school. I dey fear to go grocery shopping," one Master's student dia tok.

"I dey fear say if I dey waka, I go dey approached by agents in incognito clothes and plain disguise," e kontinu.

Despite say e be green card holder and neva play any role in pro-Palestinian protests on campus, e say e go still dey "crippling anxiety" sake of say e don write tins wey dey critical of di president.

"How far dis administration go dig through, like, one immigrant history?" e bin ask. "What if I bin tok sometin and I no dey aware."