The recent detainment of students and revocation of green cards and visas across the country due to involvement in pro-Palestine protests has sparked fear and disappointment across college campuses, including here at Loyola, where students have continuously mobilized to support Palestine since October 2023. This becomes an even scarier reality for international students who rely on visas and green cards. Their right to peacefully protest, supposedly protected under the First Amendment, is now threatened.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal United States citizen was arrested on March 8 by several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents due to his involvement in pro-Palestine protests. His situation is not an isolated event, it’s a warning for what’s to come. Following his arrest and detainment, Columbia students like Ranjani Srinivasan and Georgetown professor Badar Khan Suri have undergone similar treatment.
This insistent targeting of students and scholars based purely on their political and personal beliefs is a clear fear tactic to prevent people, particularly immigrants, from speaking out in ways that the government doesn’t align with. It’s clear that our supposed freedom of speech is not truly free for everyone.
As a Puerto Rican student, I have the privilege of American citizenship by birthright; however, I’m aware that this does not grant me the same rights and benefits as a “first-class” American. The simple fact of being a Latinx student in the States during this time of intense political turmoil makes it so that I am constantly aware of discrimination and racist perceptions just for being a Spanish speaker. Though I could not technically be deported, I, and my fellow Puerto Rican classmates, are aware that discrimination knows no limits, and simply being an American citizen won’t protect me from racist actions taken against me or my peers.
I’m grateful that Loyola has granted me the opportunity to have a friend group of majority Latinx and Hispanic classmates and it has opened my eyes to the realities that many of my international friends face. The fear of immigration has long been a topic that I have learned about and has been part of many conversations I’ve had throughout the years. Nevertheless, I never had to experience what it truly means to be an immigrant in the United States until I got to college. I know many people who, following Trump’s pledge to detain and deport immigrants, have started to have real fears about their futures in this country.
It’s important to care and have solidarity with our international peers at this moment. Not just because they’re our classmates, but because their fight is also our fight. If we continue to close our eyes in the face of injustice and denial of freedoms, we risk a future where these freedoms may not exist. This threat to the First Amendment protections does not just affect international students; if these protections weaken, they may weaken completely and be erased. If we allow these rights to be taken from some, we risk letting them be taken from everyone.
