What we know about the federal detention of activists, students and scholars connected to universities

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — Nearly a dozen students and faculty members at colleges across the country are known to have been detained by federal agents amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, which on college campuses, has taken aim at pro-Palestinian student activists and Israel critics.

Many of those detained have been granted the right to live in the US either as permanent residents or through temporary work or student visas. Their rights, however, have been put into question under new, sweeping immigration orders that some legal experts fear may be used liberally to clamp down on dissent.

Speaking to reporters last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said under his direction, more than 300 visas –– “primarily student visas, some visitor visas” –– have been revoked. Rubio did not specify how many visas belonged to people tied to the pro-Palestinian movement.

“If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” Rubio said.

When asked about freedom of speech concerns, Rubio said international students are “here to study.”

“They’re here to go to class. They’re not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine our universities. I think it’s lunacy to continue to allow that.”

Here is what we know about the detainment of college activists, students and scholars.

Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and one of the school’s most prominent pro-Palestinian activists, was among the first students detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He was arrested by federal agents March 8 and taken to a detention facility in Louisiana after his lawyer said his green card was revoked by the Trump administration.

The administration ordered Khalil to be deported after baselessly claiming he is a Hamas sympathizer, a threat to national security, and poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

Officials later said Khalil’s deportation was justified because he did not reveal connections to two organizations in his application to become a permanent US resident –– an argument his attorneys call weak.

On March 19, a judge blocked the government indefinitely from deporting Khalil and transferred his case to New Jersey.

While Department of Justice officials have sought to keep Khalil’s case in Louisiana since his detention, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled the case will remain in New Jersey because Khalil was in the state when his attorneys filed a habeas corpus motion seeking to challenge the legality of his detention, according to a 67-page decision filed Tuesday.

“The Petitioner was in custody in New Jersey as of March 9 at 4:40am,” Farbiarz wrote. “And under a federal statute, the Petition, though filed in New York, must be treated as having been filed in New Jersey on March 9 at 4:40am. Therefore, this Court has jurisdiction.”

Badar Khan Suri

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and Georgetown scholar whose research focuses on peacebuilding in the Middle East, was arrested in his Virginia home in mid-March after his J-1 visa was revoked.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson alleged Khan Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” and that he had “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”

Like student detainees, Khan Suri has been accused of posing a threat to national security. He is currently being held in detention in Texas.

His defense team denies the US government claims and argues Khan Suri’s detainment is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to clamp down on individuals “purportedly based on their participation in Palestine-related speech,” according to his court petition.

Khan Suri’s attorney believes he’s being targeted also because his wife is a prominent Palestinian activist.

Khan Suri’s father-in-law, who lived in the US for two decades, served as political adviser to the prime minister of Gaza and as deputy of foreign affairs in Gaza until 2010, according to a court filing.

In a statement to CNN, a Georgetown University spokesperson said, “We expect the legal system to adjudicate (Khan Suri’s) case fairly.”

Rümeysa Öztürk

Turkish national Rümeysa Öztürk was on her way to break the Ramadan fast in late March when she was arrested and physically restrained by six plainclothes officers near her apartment by Tufts University’s Somerville campus.

The arrest, which was captured on surveillance video, was described by Tufts President Sunil Kumar as “disturbing.”

In March 2024, the PhD student co-wrote an op-ed in the school’s newspaper in which she criticized Tufts’ response to a student government group’s call for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel because of the conflict in Gaza, among other demands.

When asked about Öztürk’s case, Rubio suggested, without evidence, that the 30-year-old participated in disruptive student protests over Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN that Öztürk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” but did not specify what those alleged activities were.

Öztürk is being held at a staging facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, according to Homeland Security. While in transit to Louisiana, she suffered an asthma attack, according to an amended habeas corpus petition filed Friday. Öztürk has also not been charged or given the opportunity to speak with a lawyer.

On Friday, a judge in Boston ordered Öztürk not to be deported until she can determine whether the Boston court has jurisdiction to decide if Öztürk was lawfully detained –– a decision that drew praise from Öztürk’s lawyers.

In a filing Tuesday, the US Attorney’s Office in Boston opposed Öztürk’s petition, saying the Boston court does not have jurisdiction in the case because the Tufts student was transferred out of the state shortly after her arrest.

Öztürk’s attorneys will file a response to the government’s opposition Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to an order by Judge Denise Casper.

Doğukan Günaydin

The University of Minnesota said in a campus-wide letter that an international graduate student was detained by immigration officials at an off-campus residence.

The university did not identify the student but called the arrest “a deeply concerning situation.”

The Turkish citizen was identified as Doğukan Günaydin in a lawsuit filed on his behalf this week, according to reporting from The Associated Press.

Günaydin, 28, is suing for his immediate release, saying his arrest violated his rights and he’s been given little explanation for why he’s being held, the lawsuit said. Two plainclothes federal officers arrested him on the street outside his St. Paul home while he was on his way to class Thursday.

“Doğukan feared he was being kidnapped as a man in a hooded sweatshirt grabbed him and handcuffed him,” according to his petition.

Günaydin’s attorney, Hannah Brown, did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment, but previously said this was a “highly sensitive situation.”

Monday, a senior DHS official told CNN the student was taken into custody because of a prior drunken driving incident.

“This is not related to student protests,” the official said in a statement Monday. “The individual in question was arrested after a visa revocation by the State Dept. related to a prior criminal history for a DUI.”

Detaining an international student over a prior DUI conviction seems to suggest a different approach by immigration officials who, so far, appear focused on students who have participated in protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

Günaydin’s detainment has drawn the ire of local, state and national leaders such as Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz –– all of whom are demanding answers from ICE.

“Snatching up students who come here legally to work hard and get an education does not make you tough on immigration,” Walz said in a post on social media. “We need answers.”

Before attending the University of Minnesota, Günaydin attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a school spokesperson, Kat Dodge, told CNN on Wednesday.

Günaydin graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science and economics, Dodge said.

Other students and scholars targeted

• Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor with a valid US visa at Brown Medical School, was deported from Boston to Lebanon after federal agents discovered she attended former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in February. Alawieh acknowledged she supported Nasrallah’s religious and spiritual techniques but not his politics. A lawyer representing the professor via a family member is working to bring her back to the country.
• Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the Gambia pursuing a PhD in Africana studies at Cornell, had his student visa revoked over his involvement in “disruptive protests,” according to US government officials. A US district judge declined to immediately block the US government from deporting him after he filed a preemptive lawsuit to block enforcement against him. Monday, Taal announced he would be leaving the US voluntarily. His attorney has not responded to CNN’s requests for comments.
• Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian-born mechanical engineering graduate student at the University of Alabama, was arrested by ICE agents early Tuesday, an official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told CNN. The source said it was unclear whether Doroudi had participated in any pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The source said Doroudi has overstayed his student visa.
• Leqaa Kordia, a Columbia student from the West Bank, had her student visa terminated in January 2022 for lack of attendance. She was arrested by local law enforcement last year for her involvement in what the Department of Homeland Security described as “pro-Hamas protests.”
• Yunseo Chung, a US permanent resident and junior at Columbia University, sued the Trump administration to stop removal proceedings after she was arrested for her participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Efforts to detain Chung were temporarily blocked by a federal judge last week.
• Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national and Fulbright recipient attending Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, left the US for Canada after immigration officials revoked her visa. She was due to graduate from her five-year program this year.
• Kseniia Petrova, a research associate at Harvard Medical School, was detained in February for failing to declare frog embryos upon returning to Boston from France, her attorney, Greg Romanovsky told CNN. She is currently in detention in Louisiana but faces deportation to Russia, where, according to her attorney, she would face immediate arrest over her previous outspoken opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

State Department orders additional screenings for some visa applicants

Outside the US, immigration officials have been ordered to conduct deeper scrutiny of visa applicants.

Over the weekend, the State Department sent out a memo ordering all US embassies and consulates to screen the social media activity of certain student visa applicants for evidence of support for terrorist organizations, two sources familiar with the memo told CNN.

The expansive directive, signed by Rubio, tasks “Fraud Prevention Units” at the State Department with taking screenshots of any social media activity that is relevant to the ineligibility of a visa applicant, and to preserve those records in case the applicant deletes the information, the sources said.

Decisions on visas are national security decisions, the memo says while citing executive orders from President Donald Trump to combat terrorism and antisemitism.

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

CNN’s Gloria Pazmino and Sean Lyngaas contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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