Though Georgetown University managed contentious relations with the federal government, particularly on immigration, during President Donald Trump’s first term, the detention of a Georgetown postdoctoral researcher March 17 demonstrated signs of new hostility from the administration towards the university.
Since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a senior U.S. Department of Justice official attempted to order Georgetown to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs from its law curriculum before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained the researcher, School of Foreign Service postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri.
These rifts are not the first time the university or its community have come under fire from the Trump administration. Though Trump has family ties to Georgetown — three of his children have attended the university — the university repeatedly broke from Trump’s stated position on issues including undocumented immigrants and visa policies during his first term.
Visa Policy
Conflict between Georgetown and the administration over immigration abounded during Trump’s first term, leading the university’s then-president, John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95), to publicly speak out against Trump’s policies.
In February 2017, DeGioia joined several hundred university presidents in signing two open letters denouncing a Trump executive order that restricted immigration and refugee entry from seven majority-Muslim countries, known colloquially as the “Muslim ban.”
“Guided by our mission, we have placed a special emphasis on interreligious dialogue and our openness to different faith traditions and cultures,” DeGioia wrote. “This includes our efforts to support a diverse and vibrant Muslim community on campus.”
According to reports, Trump is planning to impose a similar travel ban as soon as Friday, March 28, 2025, this time broadening the policy to include limitations for citizens of as many as 43 different countries. This includes 11 countries labeled as “red” where travel to the United States would be completely prohibited for citizens of such countries –– Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
Undocumented Immigration
In September 2017, Trump issued a directive to DHS to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, legislation passed under former President Barack Obama which allowed immigrants who had entered the United States as children but lacked legal residency to remain in the country with work authorization and legal protection.
In response, DeGioia issued a statement reiterating the university’s support of noncitizen students and calling Trump’s decision “unconscionable.”
“As a nation, we have the capacity and responsibility to work together to provide a permanent legislative solution to ensure the safety and wellbeing of these young women and men who have — and will — contribute to the future of our country in deeply meaningful ways,” DeGioia wrote in the Sept. 5 statement.
In the months after Trump’s executive order, DeGioia and the university lobbied the U.S. Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act — which would grant temporary conditional residency to DACA recipients — and advocated for coalition building with other university presidents in the American Council on Education, a higher education policy research and advocacy non-profit organization.
“On each of the occasions that I have met with our undocumented students here at Georgetown I have sought to reassure and remind them of two things first, that each one of them belongs here — their membership in our community is not only welcomed, but vital,” DeGioia wrote. “And second, that they are a part of a community that is committed to ensuring they can succeed in an environment that is free from constraint or fear.”
DeGioia cited the university’s Jesuit identity and focus on international relations and diplomacy as a driving force for the statements.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
During Trump’s second term, the administration has also targeted multiple U.S. universities, including Georgetown, for their DEI policies.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) warned universities Feb. 14 to end all race-based programs and DEI initiatives — including affinity groups, graduation ceremonies celebrating different groups of students and race-based admissions or hiring practices — or risk losing federal funding. DOE later announced March 14 that it would investigate 45 universities, including Georgetown, for alleged racially exclusionary practices in graduate programs.
Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, wrote in a March 3 press release that DOE wants to ensure universities do not discriminate based on race, implying that affinity groups and other initiatives are illegal discrimination.
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” McMahon said in the press release. “We will not yield on this commitment.”
DOJ officials have also specifically targeted Georgetown’s DEI policies, with Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., threatening in a letter to Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Treanor to refuse to hire Georgetown students or graduates for work in his office unless the university ended its DEI practices.
Treanor rejected the letter in a strongly worded response, saying the First Amendment protects educational institutions’ rights to create their own curricula and policies.
ICE Detainment
DHS officials’ detention of Khan Suri, a researcher in the School of Foreign Service’s (SFS) Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding (ACMCU), has also drawn outrage from many members of the university community.
ACMCU faculty issued a statement condemning Khan Suri’s arrest, describing it as an attempt to curtail free speech and academic freedom.
“A bedrock of American democracy has been our universities and colleges. They have been the envy of the world,” the ACMCU faculty wrote. “What makes them great is that they are institutions that defend academic freedom and freedom of speech. Historically, they have promoted free inquiry, debate, and dissent.”
“It is no surprise that the Trump Administration views these institutions as a danger and wants to silence them,” the ACMCU added. “Critical thinking poses a threat to all authoritarian regimes, including the one in Washington D.C.”
SFS Dean Joel Hellman wrote in a March 21 statement that academic freedom is essential to Georgetown’s future.
“Our commitment to fostering open inquiry, deliberation and debate has not always made for a comfortable campus, but I believe that time has shown that it has played a key role in maintaining our University values,” Hellman wrote.