The federal government has terminated ten Georgetown University community members’ immigration statuses, an increase from about six individuals affected as of April 9, according to an update posted on a university webpage April 14.
The webpage, on the university’s website for International Student & Scholar Services, says the government provided limited reasoning and did not inform the university beforehand. The university did not identify the individuals affected.
“We are aware of ten community members who have had their immigration status terminated,” the webpage reads. “The reasons given for such terminations are limited and Georgetown University was not informed of them by the government.”
The university’s update comes nearly a month after federal immigration officials detained Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown postdoctoral researcher working at the School of Foreign Service’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), after revoking his visa for alleged pro-Hamas speech on social media. Khan Suri, currently in a Texas immigration detention center, awaits federal court hearings in early May.
ACMCU Director Nader Hashemi said there is no effective opposition to the actions of Trump administration and federal government.
“The Trump Administration has gone berserk,” Hashemi wrote to The Hoya. “One reason why they are expanding their crackdown on innocent people is because there is no effective political opposition to this campaign of mass visa revocation. Have you heard anything substantive from the leaders of the Democratic Party? Where are they? All I have heard is crickets.”
“As a political scientist who studies authoritarianism, I can tell you that more repression is headed our way and that eventually US citizens will be targeted,” Hashemi added. “There must be a mass mobilization at every level to stop this authoritarian juggernaut in its tracks.”
A university spokesperson said diverse dialogue is essential to the university’s Jesuit mission.
“Georgetown is a global research university guided by a Jesuit commitment to engage all over the world to promote the common good,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Central to Georgetown’s mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution and guided by Georgetown’s founding as a university for students of all faiths, Georgetown promotes interreligious understanding and dialogue among community members of all religious and non-religious backgrounds.”
In an additional April 14 update, the university warned students on visas and work authorizations that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would screen social media for activity “endorsing, espousing, promoting or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations or other antisemitic activity.” According to the update, students and staff reentering the country through a border screening or applying for a visa or work authorization could face scrutiny.
