To protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) termination of the visas of four Emory University community members, a group of about 50 protestors participated in a walkout on April 14.
On April 8, ICE terminated the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records of three Emory alumni and one student. In response, various pro-Palestinian groups publicized a protest.
The protest, which was also in support of Palestine, began at the top of the Emory Student Center’s (ESC) steps before protesters marched through Asbury Circle and the University Quadrangle before returning to the ESC.
As ICE continues to terminate international student visas nationwide, protesters emphasized support for Emory’s international student community, chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear; all students are welcome here.”
SFS co-President Tasfia Jahangir (23PH, 29G) addressed the crowd, calling upon the Emory administration to protect its international students by declaring Emory a sanctuary campus.
“When institutions allow their students to be targeted like this, they become accomplices to oppression, to injustice,” Jahangir said. “We demand answers. We demand protection. We demand that Emory declare itself a sanctuary campus and stand unequivocally against this campaign of fear.”
Jahangir emphasized the importance of international students to the Emory community, saying that their presence increases the diversity of viewpoints in the classroom and beyond.
“International students, they contribute substantially to the quality of our education,” Jahangir said. “We learn so much from all the different perspectives that they bring. It’s one of the … things that makes higher education top-tier in the United States. We would lose that if we kept waging a war on people with student visas and it would not only hurt international students, but it would hurt the broader student body and Emory community in general.”
Tyler Lee (27C) said that his connection to the movement inspired his participation in the walkout.
“I know a lot of international students myself, and my mom, my mom’s family, they too, were immigrants to this country, and it was quite shocking for me, over the past few weeks and past few months, to see these students and faculty forcibly having their place here taken away,” Lee said.
Abby Rollins (26C) said it was hypocritical for ICE to terminate students’ visas at higher education institutions, which champion free thinking and free speech.
“How are we going to say that we’re a place of intellectualism and supporting intellectual ideas and growth and movement, but we’re removing people from our campus?” Rollins said.
The walkout also protested the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Jahangir said that ICE is terminating some international student visas due to their pro-Palestine political organizing.
“Across the country, we have been seeing that students are being punished for refusing to be complicit in genocide,” Jahangir said.
In recent weeks, the U.S. government detained and attempted to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine activist at Columbia University (N.Y.). ICE also arrested and attempted to deport Columbia student Yunseo Chung, who had previously attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
SFS co-President Zachary Hammond (23Ox, 25C) connected protesting international student visa terminations to the ongoing movement supporting Palestine.
“In a broader sense, this is a continuation of the student movement for Palestine that we’ve been fighting for at Emory for over a year,” Hammond said.
Hammond emphasized the impact that recent Trump administration actions have had on the morale of the Emory community.
“It’s a really dark day for the Emory community where our fellow community members, whether they be alumni or students, are directly under attack by the federal government and being targeted for deportation, presumably for their free expression.”
Several community members emphasized the importance of continuing to take action against the Trump administration’s policies. Emory Department of Mathematics Postdoctoral Fellow John Darges said freedom of speech is in danger during this conflict.
“Academia is supposed to be a place of free expression,” Darges said. “Whatever the reason that people have their visas terminated, it has this chilling effect where people are worried about what they say or what they research.”
Jahangir highlighted that these recent actions have emboldened student activism.
“But we want to show them that repression actually breeds more resistance, especially when we know that we’re not engaged in any criminal activity,” Jahangir said. “We're exercising our right to free speech. We're exercising our right to organize. We're exercising our right to mobilize.”
