Terror victims urge US revoke visas for violent foreign protesters and probe immigration compliance

Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin, representing Israeli and American terror victims from the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has written to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and the directors of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), demanding that US immigration agencies act immediately to revoke visas for foreign students and other foreign nationals who participated in violent campus protests and antisemitic incidents and investigate universities’ compliance with immigration regulations.

As reported, more than 3,000 students and other protesters were arrested during the latest campus protests in April and May. Some of these protesters have been suspended or expelled by their universities. Among these students and protesters are foreign nationals, whose presence in the US is based on student and other temporary visas.

According to Shurat HaDin’s letter, the participation of foreign nationals, both students and others, in the latest campus protests across the United States “is alarming” since it is one of the symptoms of growing foreign involvement in American universities, which has contributed greatly to the spread of antisemitism in these institutions.  

Shurat HaDin also emphasizes that the recent protests were well-funded and organized: activist groups trained students how to conduct protests, months before recent campus protests erupted. Some of the “activists” were trained by “Samidoun,” which is designated as a terror organization in Israel and Germany. Additionally, a “professional outside agitator” served as a paid consultant to stir up protests in Columbia, and many of the “protesters” were not even affiliated with the universities which they literally occupied.

The letter stresses that protesters are foreign nationals who have violated the terms of their visa applications. Furthermore, students suspended or expelled by their universities no longer meet the conditions required to maintain their visas, and thus, such visas must be immediately revoked. ICE can also initiate proceedings to revoke visas if any other potential reason for inadmissibility or ineligibility involving law enforcement is suspected, and the US Department of Homeland Security and its agencies can review all student records and all documented student activity. 

Therefore, the letter calls for ICE and the other immigration agencies to immediately act to gather information from local police authorities and independently investigate cases of breach of visa terms, emphasizing that acting accordingly is a matter of national security. 

The letter continues to raise concerns as to potential breach of immigration regulations by universities’ staff: Designated Student Officers (“DSOs”) in every university hold a duty to report such foreign students’ actions and academic status. The letter calls immigration authorities to investigate if DSOs have failed their reporting duties and act accordingly to withdraw the relevant institutions’ Student and Exchange Visiting Program (SEVP) certification, which allows them to accept foreign students.

According to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, “the latest violent protests have proved that foreign involvement in US universities has reached a new level. Billions of dollars poured into universities’ pockets, and the nourishing of terrorist student groups such as SJP, have paved the way for antisemitism and violence. America must act swiftly if it wishes to save its educational system from the claws of Islamists and extremists.”