Steve was quoted by Inside Higher Ed in “Palpable Fear” Hangs Over International Students. Commenting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials’ activities at Columbia University and Trump administration goals more broadly, he said, “This administration has declared war on immigrants broadly and international students specifically.” He noted that international students “have the same constitutional rights as citizens, but immigration statutes are very broad and there are many grounds for deportability that could trip you up, even as a green card holder.” Among those potential grounds, he said, is donating to an overseas charity that the Department of State deems suspicious or linked to terrorist activity—as it has done with many charities for Palestinian children and families affected by the destruction of Gaza. “It’s easy for someone to unintentionally or unknowingly violate our immigration laws that way and get put into the deportation process,” he said. The article notes that in addition to free speech restrictions and ICE raids, the Trump administration has promised to clamp down on approvals for new student visas, and Congress recently passed the Laken Riley Act, significantly lowering the threshold for visa revocation. Steve said that such policies are beginning to manifest at the border. He said he has heard stories of students with clearly marked visas in their passports being held for further inspection in airports across the country, some of them turned away by ICE and forced to challenge the decision from abroad. “In the past, these students would never have been put into secondary inspection,” he said.
