LOS ANGELES — Ali, a UCLA student who joined pro-Palestinian protests last year, avoided arrest when riot police dismantled the school’s encampment last May. An international student who took part in a surge of campus activism around Israel’s war in Gaza, he was wary of having a record that could affect his visa. But he did not otherwise hide his activism.

Now, as federal authorities act on President Donald Trump’s directive to deport international student activists he accuses of being antisemitic “pro-Hamas” terrorism supporters, Ali has taken new precautions. He’s moved out of his apartment — the address listed with the government — and is staying with a friend. He attends classes but avoids social events. He carries a piece of paper with the number for a 24-hour hotline faculty set up for students detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As more arrests unfold, fears among California international students are growing — and frustrations mounting — as they accuse campus administrators of not doing enough to protect them in the state with the largest foreign student population in the nation and universities at the forefront of national activism.

“It’s a matter of time before it gets here,” said Ali, who did not want his full name, nationality, area of study or age published because he is worried about being tracked. “This is free speech. Isn’t this what this country is supposed to be known for?”

Speaking at a press conference Thursday during a visit to Guyana, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government had initiated a widespread review of student activists’ visas and revoked at least 300.

“We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio said. He added: “I hope at some point we run out because we have gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.”

He later clarified that it has been “primarily student visas, some visitors visas” and that the government has canceled some visas over issues “unrelated to any protests” that have to do with “potential criminal activity.”

At UCLA, members of Faculty for Justice in Palestine recently circulated advice to international students: “Don’t say anything to ICE. Don’t sign anything. Tell them to speak to your attorney,” it said alongside a hotline number. “... Please have a stamped, pre-addressed envelope to someone you trust with you in the event of an ICE arrest, you can send the mail to alert them you have been detained.”

International students have been told to “not go out unless you need to and make sure someone knows where you are going if you do go out,” said Randall Kuhn, a UCLA professor of public health who last year joined protesters.

Since government agents on March 8 arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and protest leader last spring, the Trump administration has attempted to arrest or deport at least six additional pro-Palestinian foreign students at four campuses: three more at Columbia and one each at Tufts, Cornell and Georgetown universities.

On Thursday, officials at the University of Alabama confirmed that immigration authorities this week detained an Iranian graduate student. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the student “posed significant national security concerns” but did not indicate if he was targeted for pro-Palestinian activism.

It’s unclear how many international students were part of pro-Palestinian protests on California campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and its war in Gaza. UCLA and the University of Southern California together have more than 27,000 international students — the biggest groups are from China and India — though few of those students have been involved in protests.

Citing privacy, a spokesperson for the University of California declined to state whether student visas at UCLA or other UC campuses have been revoked or if there have been immigration arrests of pro-Palestinian students. USC spokesperson Lauren Bartlett said she was “unaware of anyone with a USC affiliation being impacted.”

A State Department spokesperson would not state whether students in California have lost their visa status. Activists at UCLA, USC and other Southern California schools swept by last spring’s encampments said they did not know if there have been visa cancellations and were not aware of student detentions.

Many of the known cases nationwide are being fought in court, with the Trump administration either blocked from making arrests or from initiating deportations or transfers for those detained.

In one instance, an Indian graduate student at Columbia, Ranjani Srinivasan, fled to Canada this month after learning government agents sought her. Srinivasan was taken into police custody as part of protests last year, but maintains she was not an activist and was merely swept up in mass arrests. Charges were later dropped. Also at Columbia, Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old student, won a temporary reprieve in court this week after the Trump administration tried to revoke her green card and deport her. Chung, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, was not a prominent protest figure like Khalil.

One of the latest cases was caught on video. Plainclothes agents arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, on a sidewalk Tuesday as she walked to see friends for the traditional fast-breaking during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Last year, after Ozturk authored an op-ed critical of Israel, her profile appeared on Canary Mission, a website that blacklists people and groups it accuses of antisemitism. The group, along with another called Betar US, have claimed credit for promoting names of individuals the Trump administration has detained. The White House has not confirmed the organizations as sources.

A senior DHS spokesperson said in a statement that “DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas” and that “glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated.” A DHS listing said Ozturk is being held in Louisiana.

Increased tensions

The potential for immigration enforcement against international student activists in California has amplified tensions on campuses already grappling with growing pressure from Trump.

An onslaught of federal orders, funding cut threats and investigations are tied to Trump’s political agenda that eschews diversity, equity and inclusion practices he says illegally favor racial minorities. The Trump administration has also focused acutely on allegations of antisemitism tied to pro-Palestinian college protests, threatening to pull federal money from schools that don’t meet its unspecified standards for combating antisemitism.

The Department of Justice is investigating the UC system over alleged antisemitism and a federal task force on antisemitism said it will visit UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC and seven other U.S. campuses. Campus and Justice Department spokespeople declined to say when those visits will take place.

The Trump administration canceled $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University in New York this month in response to its handling of protests. In an attempt to get the money back, Columbia has given in to federal demands by adopting a formal definition of antisemitism, hiring new security officers, changing protest and discipline policies and putting its Middle Eastern studies department under “academic receivership.”

“It is absurd,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the UC Berkeley School of Law dean and First Amendment scholar who has been critical of some pro-Palestinian protests, including one that took place in his backyard during a law school event last year.

“The idea of government wanting to stifle speech is not new. But some of what is being done now is,” he said. “And it does not matter if you are a citizen or a visitor, you have free speech, even if people view that free speech as offensive or in favor of Hamas.”

At UCLA, undergraduate student Ruksana Ali, who is not related to the person quoted earlier, joined a rally this month in support of Khalil and foreign student activists. Ruksana Ali said her university, which recently launched a new initiative on combating antisemitism, had “misplaced” priorities at a time when speech is stifled.

“Campuses are bending over backwards to appease Trump as he comes after students. We don’t believe it will be any different at UCLA, which stood back last year and watched violence against us,” said Ruksana Ali, who is a U.S. citizen. She referred to an hourslong failure by police to stop a mob attack on an encampment last April 30 and May 1.

Demonstrators sued the university this month alleging, among other complaints, that they were unlawfully arrested and left unprotected while exercising free speech. A group of Jewish students and faculty has also sued UCLA over the encampment, alleging that the university enabled antisemitic discrimination.

UCLA and USC have not issued public guidance on how to deal with immigration-related actions against student protesters, though both campuses have policies around immigration enforcement in general.

UCLA follows UC-wide rules saying campus police will “not undertake joint efforts with federal immigration enforcement authorities to investigate, detain or arrest individuals for violation of federal immigration law.” Campus areas that are open to the general public are also open to federal immigration enforcement officers.

At USC, community members are instructed to contact the Department of Public Safety or Office of the General Counsel if immigration agents show up. The university has designated a professor from its immigration law clinic as a resource for those facing arrest.

Jewish faculty at both campuses also wrote letters to administrators this month voicing concerns over deportation threats, citing a Jan. 29 antisemitism executive order Trump signed that calls on colleges to “monitor for and report activities by alien students.”

“It weaponizes antisemitism to attack intellectual and academic freedom as well as the university writ large,” said a letter signed by 77 Jewish professors at USC. “Moreover, it does not clearly distinguish between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, which will have a chilling effect on free speech.”

At UCLA, 66 Jewish faculty members signed a similar plea sent to their chancellor.

“We resist all calls to assist in compiling lists of those targeted for arrest, deportation, or discipline, and reject without equivocation any attempt to invoke our name to harass, expel, arrest, or deport members of our campus communities. These actions do not protect Jewish people but instead are a direct attack on democracy and freedom of speech,” that letter said.

Professors at the campuses said they did not hear back from administrators.

Kuhn, the professor of public health who signed the UCLA letter, said he knows several foreign student activists and is concerned that faculty and staff are not aware of student protections.

“We feel there will be efforts to arrest people, including people who did not protest,” Kuhn said. He, alongside other faculty and students, have shared “know your rights” cards with students.

Kuhn, who had visited the UCLA encampment in the spring and supported its goals — to push the university to cancel its investments in weapons companies and ties to Israel — said he didn’t see student protesters as a danger. Instead, he said, the Trump administration had initiated a “witch hunt.”

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