TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

STOP TARGETTING FOREIGN STUDENTS FOR PROTEST

UA 42.25

Since the March 8 arrest and arbitrary detention of Mahmoud Khalil for his role in student protests at Columbia University, at least nine other students have been similarly targeted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Thousands more had their visas revoked without justification. U.S. authorities are weaponizing immigration enforcement through the revocation of visas or status and deporting people who protested the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The U.S. authorities must stop the retaliatory or unjustified revocation of students’ visas and residency status and respect their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, due process, and freedom from discrimination.

Urge Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security to stop revoking the visas of foreign students in the United States - send your email using our email-writing tool.

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Secretary of Homeland Sec

Markwayne

Mullin

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Dear Secretary Kristi Noem,

I am alarmed to learn about the ongoing crackdown on foreign students who are simply exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly.

It is distressing that the U.S. government has targeted a number of students who protested or spoke out about the conflict in the occupied Gaza Strip under an obscure and rarely used provision of immigration law. Federal courts have stepped in to order the release of those students and questioned the U.S. government’s use of this law as a violation of their right free speech.

At least 6000 students are known to have had their visas revoked as of August 2025. However, many of these students never received notice of the revocation, nor did they participate in any protest or expressive activity on campus. Some students were targeted due to having committed minor crimes such as traffic violations. According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of students, many were targeted because of their country of origin, particularly those from African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Asian backgrounds.

These repressive tactics and the summary revocation of people’s immigration status, whether due to their protest activities or their country of origin, demonstrate an utter lack of respect for their human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, due process, and to be free from discrimination.

I urge you to restore the visas and immigration status of these students, release any remaining students or protesters from immigration detention, refrain from deporting any of them, and end the targeting of students based on their immigration statuses and for exercising their human rights.

Yours sincerely,

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