These Are the Students Targeted by ICE

 So Far

Miranda Jeyaretnam
Thu, March 27, 2025 
TIME



Protestors gather to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist detained by ICE, in New York City on Mar. 10, 2025. Credit - David Dee Delgado—Getty Images

A husband and expectant father; a former high school valedictorian; an architect and adjunct professor of urban planning, and a former Fulbright Scholar with a passion for child education. All legally residing in the U.S.

They’re also just some of the targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks as part of a campaign by President Donald Trump’s Administration to detain and deport noncitizens over their pro-Palestinian campus activism.




“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, following the arrest of Palestinian graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. “If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”

At least 300 international students who are “destabilizing” college campuses have had their visas revoked, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference on March 27. “Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point,” Rubio said. “At some point I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.”

The effort has raised questions about free speech and the rights of legal noncitizens, and it’s prompted legal challenges and protests in support of the targeted students.

The effort has raised questions about free speech and the rights of legal noncitizens, and it’s prompted legal challenges and protests in support of the targeted students.

Here’s what we know about some of the students who have been targeted by ICE so far:

Alireza Doroudi

Alireza Doroudi, a 22-year-old University of Alabama doctoral student from Iran, was detained early Tuesday morning at his off-campus home, according to the Crimson White, the university’s student newspaper.

ICE records confirm that Doroudi is in ICE custody. Doroudi is being held at Pickens County Jail and no charges against Doroudi have been listed in jail records, an employee at the jail told the Crimson White, although he is not listed on the jail’s public inmate roster.

A DHS spokesperson told CBS42 that Doroudi “posed significant national security concerns” but did not provide further information. Doroudi has never been involved in organizing or participating in protests related to Students for Justice in Palestine, the group’s University of Alabama chapter said in a statement on social media.


Doroudi was studying on a F-1 student visa issued in January 2023, according to a message in a group chat obtained by the Crimson White. His visa was revoked six months after he arrived in the U.S., the message read though the reason was unspecified, but Doroudi was told by the school’s International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) that “his case was not unusual or problematic and he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he maintained his student status.” He has an active I-20 and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) status—which allows international students entry into and nonpermanent residence in the U.S.— according to his attorney. Doroudi’s fiance created a GoFundMe to serve as his legal fund.

The university told the Crimson White that it is aware of Doroudi’s arrest, adding that international students are “valued members of the campus community” and can seek assistance from ISSS while the school continues to “follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities.”

The National Iranian American Council said in a Thursday statement that Doroudi’s arrest “comes on the heels of the baseless arrest of students and a green card holder as apparent retaliation against their speech and activism against war.”

“The cruelty appears to have been the point of these harsh arrests, spreading fear in many communities,” the council said.

Rumeysa Ozturk

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish international student on a valid F-1 visa for her PhD studies at Tufts University in Boston, became another high-profile target of ICE after her arrest, which witnesses caught on video, outside her home in Somerville, Mass., on Tuesday night.

Ozturk was walking alone on a sidewalk, on her way back home after meeting friends for iftar, a meal to break fast at sunset during Ramadan, when a plainsclothes officer, wearing a hat and a hoodie, approached her, surveillance video obtained from a neighbor and posted on X on Wednesday shows. The officer grabbed Ozturk by the arms, causing her to yell out, before five other plainsclothes officers approached her. One officer pulled out a concealed badge and confiscated her cell phone. The officers told her, “We’re the police.” A person off camera could be heard saying, “You don’t look like it, why are you hiding your faces? How do I know this is the police?” while the officers—who wore cloth face masks—escorted Ozturk to a black SUV. The entire encounter lasted just under two minutes.

Ozturk obtained a degree in psychology and Turkish language and literature from Istanbul Şehir University before coming to the U.S. in 2018 on a Fulbright Scholarship to earn a master’s in developmental and child psychology from Columbia University’s Teachers College, according to her LinkedIn. Passionate about children’s media and education, her LinkedIn says, she’s published research into the representation of refugee characters in children’s animated TV, interned at a consulting firm advising entertainment studios on children’s content and development, and taught courses on media and education to high school students.

Last year, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in Tufts’ student newspaper, The Tufts Daily, backing the Tufts Community Union Senate’s call for the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, … dislose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.”

After she was detained, Ozturk’s attorney filed a petition asking that Ozturk remain held in Massachusetts, which was granted. Nevertheless, ICE transferred her to Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, which is notorious for unsanitary conditions, harsh punitive measures, and “a culture of abuse,” according to CNN and the ACLU. Jeff Migliozzi, communications director for advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants, told CNN that ICE detention centers are intentionally remotely located, making them “effectively black boxes.”

“We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of,” Ozturk’s lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, told the AP. The Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., said in a statement on X that the embassy is monitoring Ozturk’s situation and is in touch with the State Department and ICE.

Yunseo Chung

ICE cannot arrest 21-year-old Yunseo Chung, a judge ruled on Tuesday, granting a temporary restraining order against the government after her attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for trying to deport her in spite of her legal status.

“After the constant dread in the back of my mind over the past few weeks, this decision feels like a million pounds off of my chest. I feel like I could fly,” Chung said in a statement provided to TIME. “I’m so, so grateful to my legal team and my community of professors, students, and staff at Columbia that have given me strength at every turn.”

Photos shared by CUNY CLEAR of Columbia student Yunseo Chung, whom ICE has sought to arrest.

CUNY CLEAR

At seven years old, Chung emigrated to the U.S. with her family from South Korea and became a lawful permanent resident, according to the lawsuit. She was valedictorian at her high school and enrolled in 2022 at Columbia University, where she was studying English and gender studies.

The 21-year-old reportedly attended—but was not a leader of—a sit-in at Barnard College protesting the expulsion of students who had participated in pro-Palestinian activism on March 5, according to the lawsuit. When an apparent white supremacist bomb threat was called (later determined to be a hoax), police officers instructed protesters to exit the building. Chung was caught in the rush to exit, the lawsuit says, and was arrested, charged with obstruction of governmental administration, given a “desk appearance ticket,” and released. She was suspended from Columbia as a result of the arrest on March 7. On March 9, ICE agents searched her parents’ home in an attempt to find her, the lawsuit alleges. The agents also obtained a warrant against “harboring noncitizens” to search her Columbia dormitory. A law enforcement official told her lawyer that her permanent resident status was being revoked.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the Columbia Spectator, Columbia’s student newspaper, that Chung “engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by NYPD during a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College. She is being sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws.” Chung had previously participated in, but not organized or led, protests and events at the Gaza Solidary Encampment on Columbia’s campus last spring, according to the lawsuit. She also faced disciplinary proceedings from Columbia for vandalism after putting up posters with photos of members of Columbia’s Board of Trustees with the words, “Wanted for Complicity in Genocide.” After a review, the university found Chung had not violated any policies, the lawsuit says.

The complaint filed by Chung’s attorneys alleges that the administration is demonstrating a “pattern and practice of targeting individuals associated with protests for Palestinian rights for immigration enforcement” and described the government’s actions as an “unprecedented and unjustifiable assault on First Amendment and other rights…” As of Wednesday, the Trump Administration has not appealed the temporary restraining order.

“Yunseo no longer has to fear that ICE will spirit her away to a distant prison simply because she spoke up for Palestinian human rights,” Ramzi Kassem, one of Chung’s lawyers, said in a statement to TIME. “The court’s temporary restraining order is both sensible and fair, to preserve the status quo as we litigate the serious constitutional issues at stake not just for Yunseo, but for our society as a whole.”

Badar Khan Suri

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen studying and teaching at Georgetown University on a valid J-1 visa, was detained by ICE on March 17.

Flyers in support of Badar Khan Suri at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Mar. 25, 2025.Jose Luis Magana—AP

Suri, who lives in Arlington, Va., was, like Ozturk, approached by masked men outside his home after an iftar gathering. Suri’s lawyer, Nermeen Arastu, told CNN that the officers were “brandishing weapons.” The agents identified themselves as members of DHS and told Suri that the government had revoked his visa, according to a lawsuit filed for his immediate release. The lawsuit alleges that the government is seeking to deport Suri under a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the Secretary of State the authority to deport noncitizens for whom the Secretary has “reasonable ground to believe” their presence or activities in the U.S. “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

“During his time on campus, I am not aware that Dr. Suri has engaged in any illegal activity, nor has he posed a threat to the security of our campus. He has been focused on completing his research,” Joel Hellman, dean of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, wrote in a statement on March 21.

Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with any crime, according to the lawsuit. Rather, the lawsuit alleges Suri has been targeted because his wife, a U.S. citizen, is of Palestinian heritage and because of her past “constitutionally protected free speech.” The couple has “long been doxxed and smeared,” the petition says, including being posted on an anonymously-run blacklisting website. Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, told Democracy Now! That Suri is “not a political activist. He was just a very serious young academic focusing on his teaching and his research.”

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Suri’s detention after it was first reported by Politico. In a post on X, McLaughlin called Suri a “foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” McLaughlin added that Suri has “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.” Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, was formerly employed at Qatari-based news outlet Al Jazeera, and her father served as a political adviser to the “Prime Minister of Gaza” (the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to the New York Times) until 2010, according to a court declaration filed on March 20.

A federal judge ruled on March 20 that the Trump Administration could not deport Suri while his case challenging his detention is being reviewed in court. Suri was held at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana before being transferred to the Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas, which has also faced complaints about its conditions. Suri’s arrest and detention prompted protests on Wednesday by Georgetown University students and academics calling for his release.

Momodou Taal

Momodou Taal, a 31-year-old Cornell graduate student and dual U.K. and Gambian citizen, had his student visa revoked on March 14 and now faces the threat of deportation.

Taal participated in pro-Palestinian protests last year, causing him to be suspended twice and at risk of losing his student visa. He also faced backlash after posting on X: “colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary” after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. In a Nov. 2023 interview with CNN, Taal said, “I can say clearly categorically I abhor the killing of all civilians no matter where they are and who does it. I love life. I don’t love death. That’s what I am as a human being. Why is it the association because I’m a Muslim and I’m a Black person, I have to condemn a proscribed terrorist organization before having an opinion on genocide?” Taal was banned from campus for the remainder of the spring 2025 semester after protesting at a career fair attended by defense contractors.

Taal sought to preemptively block immigration enforcement against him by filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on March 15. The complaint, representing Taal and two other student activists, said the plaintiffs “fear government retaliation” for engaging in “constitutionally protected expression critical of U.S. foreign policy and supportive of Palestinian human rights.”

Taal, a PhD student in Africana studies, was asked to surrender to ICE agents six days later. His attorneys, including Eric Lee, filed an emergency request blocking his detainment or deportation while the court reviews the constitutional challenge.

Around 200 students and faculty protested on Cornell’s Ithaca campus last week in support of Taal. “I wish I could be with you all in person, but the situation has got to the point where it is no longer safe,” Lee read from a statement by Taal at the start of the protest. “Momodou Taal is a test case to determine whether the government can come to your house, grab you and put you in jail for criticizing the United States government and its policies,” Lee said Wednesday after a hearing.

Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil was arrested at his home by ICE agents on March 8, 2025, and remains in custody as of March 27 at a Louisiana detention facility.

Protestors hold signs calling for the release of Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested for his involvement with campus protests against Israel, during a rally outside the White House on Mar. 18, 2025.Andrew Harnik—Getty Images

He was born in Syria to Palestinian refugees. Initially meant to study aviation engineering in Syria, he fled the country’s civil war to Beirut, Lebanon, and graduated from the Lebanese American University with a degree in computer science in 2018. He worked with several nonprofits in the Middle East, including Jusoor, a Syrian-American educational nonprofit, and the Syria Chevening Programme at the British Embassy in Beirut, which offers international scholarships to study in the U.K.—a role that former British diplomat Andrew Waller, and Khalil’s colleague at the time, said required an extensive background check.

Khalil moved to the U.S. in 2022 to attend Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, completing his master’s degree studies in December 2024. He married an American woman—making him eligible for a green card—who is eight months pregnant with their first child.

The 30-year-old was involved in several of the protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia University last spring, and he led negotiations between student protesters and university officials. Detractors say Khalil was a prominent leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student group calling for Columbia to divest from its financial ties to Israel and which has been accused of antisemitism though the group rejects the label.

Last year, Khalil was suspended for one day from Columbia after police cracked down on students occupying a campus building. He told the BBC at the time that he was acting only as a protest negotiator and had not participated in the student encampment because he had been on a student visa. The university rescinded the suspension after finding they had no evidence against him. “It shows how random the suspension was,” he said at the time. “They did that randomly, and without due process.”

The White House has alleged without evidence that Khalil distributed pro-Hamas materials at a protest and that he failed to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on his green card application. The UNRWA, a U.N. agency that provides aid and relief to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, was banned by Israel last year for allegedly “spreading antisemitism” and having members who took part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Khalil worked as an unpaid intern with UNRWA in 2023 but was never on staff, the agency told CNN.

A judge temporarily blocked the attempted deportation of Khalil on March 10, pending review of his case. Lawyers for Khalil also filed a lawsuit challenging his detention by ICE, and a New York judge ruled his case should be transferred to New Jersey instead of Louisiana, which the Trump Administration pushed for, as well as reaffirmed the previous ruling blocking his deportation.

Khalil and seven other students filed a lawsuit against Columbia and the House Education and Workforce Committee on March 13 in an effort to prevent the disciplinary records of students—including around the student occupation of Hamilton Hall—from being turned over to the Republican-led committee.

Ranjani Srinivasan

Ranjani Srinivasan, a 37-year-old architect, came to the U.S. from Chennai, India, as a Fulbright recipient in 2016, became a PhD candidate at Columbia in 2020, and began teaching as an adjunct professor at New York University last fall. She was in the 5th year of her doctoral degree at Columbia University’s Department of Urban Planning when ICE agents knocked at her door on March 7.

Srinivasan learned that her student visa had been revoked by the Department of State via an email on March 5. She sought help from Columbia’s international students office and was told she was in legal status, according to a letter published on political scientist Norman Finkelstein’s website. But when three ICE agents came to her Columbia University apartment without a warrant two days later, she became worried, according to the New York Times. Her roommate, an American citizen, refused to let the agents in.

Finding little recourse through the university’s hotlines, Srinivasan left for a safer location. On March 9, ICE terminated her SEVIS status and the university de-enrolled her, according to the letter. Facing the risk of detention and deportation, Srinivasan left the U.S. for Canada.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X airport surveillance footage showing Srinivasan at LaGuardia Airport in New York. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country,” Noem wrote in the post, adding that Srinivasan chose to “self deport.” Srinivasan’s lawyers denied the allegations against her, according to the Times.

In her letter posted to Finkelstein’s website, Srinivasan maintained that she only attended “a handful of low-level protests,” and, according to the Times, she signed several open letters related to the war in Gaza. She was arrested by police last year on the day that students occupied Hamilton Hall, but said she had only been walking through the crowd to return to her apartment. She received two summonses—for obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic and for refusing to disperse—but her case was dismissed, her lawyers told the Times.

"I take these lunatics' visas": Rubio admits to revoking 300 student visas over campus activism

Griffin Eckstein
Thu, March 27, 2025 

SALON


Marco Rubio Anna Rose Layden-Pool/Getty Images


Marco Rubio said the federal government is ramping up its efforts to deport college and university students who engage in pro-Palestinian activism.

In a press conference on Thursday, Rubio claimed his office has torn up more than 300 student visas on his watch. The secretary of state called student activists "lunatics" and claimed that his department will continue to revoke visas "every day."

“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio told reporters in Guyana. "Go back and do it in your country."

Rubio's comments came in response to the abduction of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk by plainclothes immigration officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Video of the encounter went viral on Wednesday. Ozturk, a Turkish national, helped author an op-ed denouncing Israel's actions in Gaza. That act seemed to be enough to trigger Rubio's regime. Though he failed to provide specifics, Rubio said Ozturk's actions went beyond sternly worded articles.

"If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you’re coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not going to give you a visa,” Rubio shared.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Rubio’s State Department, alleged on X that Ozturk was “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”

Ozturk is one of several high-profile student deportation cases across the country. Like Columbia University activist and legal permanent resident Khalil Mahmoud, Ozturk was quickly sent to a detention center in Louisiana. The PhD candidate was moved from Massachusetts to the southern state despite a judge's order forbidding her rendition.

“If you come into the US as a visitor and create a ruckus for us, we don't want it," Rubio said, by way of explanation.

The crackdown comes as other Trump administration officials turn up the temperature on their own mass deportation efforts. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shared a social media video earlier this week from inside an El Salvador detention camp where hundreds of Venezuelans living inside the U.S. were sent on her office's allegations of gang affiliation.

‘Dagger through the heart’: outcry as Ice detains University of Alabama student

Sam Levin and Maya Yang

THE GUARDIAN
Thu, March 27, 2025 

An aerial view of the University of Alabama.Photograph: Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg 12+/Alamy

There was an outcry on campus at the University of Alabama on Thursday after US immigration authorities detained a doctoral student – an event which campus officials confirmed on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the state’s flagship university said in a brief statement that a student was arrested “off campus” by federal immigration officials, but declined to comment further, citing privacy laws.

The US government’s justification for detaining the student was not immediately clear, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to a request for comment late on Wednesday.

News of the arrest comes amid reports of the Trump administration increasingly targeting college students for arrest and deportation across the country, including people in the US on visas and permanent residents with green cards, raising alarms on campuses and in surrounding communities.

The Crimson White, a student newspaper at the University of Alabama, reported on the arrest, saying the targeted student was detained at their home early on Tuesday morning. The individual is Iranian and was in the US on a student visa and studying mechanical engineering, the newspaper said, identifying the student as Alireza Doroudi. The university’s College Democrats group said in a statement that Trump and Ice “have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community”.

“Our fears have come to pass. Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and Ice have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community,” the group said. Homan, previously Ice’s acting director, is Trump’s newest so-called “border czar”.

“As far as we know right now, Ice is yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities across the country. Regardless, our mission to advocate for all corners of the UA community is ironclad, and forever will be,” the group added.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday evening if the arrested student had a lawyer.

Alex House, a university spokesperson, said its international student and scholar services center was available to assist students with concerns: “International students studying at the university are valued members of the campus community.”

But House’s statement added that the university “has and will continue to follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities”.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) also condemned the student’s detention on Thursday, saying: “We are deeply disturbed by the arrest of Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, by Ice agents. At a minimum, Ice must make his whereabouts known and make clear if he has been charged with any crime. If not, he should be immediately released.

“The cruelty appears to have been the point of these harsh arrests, spreading fear in many communities. We call on the administration to halt these harsh and unjust actions and immediately release all those unjustly detained,” NIAC added.

The Alabama arrest was confirmed the same day news broke that Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University in Boston, was detained by federal immigration agents and taken to an Ice detention center in Louisiana. Her arrest appeared to be part of the US government’s crackdown on students with ties to pro-Palestinian activism on campus last year.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Ozturk was in the US on a visa and accused her of supporting Hamas, but did not provide evidence to support its claims. Media reports noted that Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and Turkish citizen, had in March 2024 co-written an opinion piece in the Tufts student newspaper, alongside three other authors, supporting calls for the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.

Ozturk’s arrest has sparked widespread outrage as video circulated showing masked officers, in plainclothes, approaching her on the street and taking her into custody. A 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera recorded the arrest told the Associated Press it “looked like a kidnapping”.

The Massachusetts director of Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights group, said in a statement: “We unequivocally condemn the abduction of a young Muslim hijab-wearing scholar by masked federal agents in broad daylight. This alarming act of repression is a direct assault on free speech and academic freedom.”

Related: Student who sued Trump takes powerful stand against ‘constant dread’ of deportation threats

Ozturk’s lawyer told the New York Times she was heading out to break her Ramadan fast with friends when she was detained near her apartment.

Tufts’s president said the university “had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event”. The university was told the student’s visa was “terminated”, the president added.

Ice records suggested Ozturk was taken to Louisiana despite a judge ordering DHS to give advanced notice if officials sought to transfer her out of state.

DHS has also faced scrutiny over its efforts to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate, who is a green card holder. A US judge in Manhattan on Wednesday blocked immigration officials from detaining Yunseo Chung, a Columbia undergraduate, who is also a permanent resident facing threats of deportation for involvement in Gaza solidarity protests.

University of Alabama graduate student detained by ICE, school says

US  Federal immigration agents have detained a University of Alabama doctoral student who is a citizen of Iran, according to the school and ICE records.

Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering, is currently being held in a county jail, awaiting transfer to an immigration facility, his attorney, David Rozas, confirmed to ABC News.

A spokesperson for the Pickens County Jail in Alabama confirmed to ABC News that an Alireza Doroudi has been in their custody since Tuesday and is being held at the behest of ICE.

PHOTO: Alireza Doroudi is shown in this undated photo. (LinkedIn)

Doroudi was taken into custody by ICE at 3 a.m. Thursday at his home, his attorney said.




The Department of Homeland Security said Doroudi’s student visa was revoked and he was subsequently arrested because he "posed significant national security concerns."

Rozas, though, said in a statement to ABC News he has " not been informed of any allegations concerning significant national security issues."

No federal charges have been filed against Doroudi, according to a search of federal court records. Rozas also told ABC News that the student has "not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests."

"He is legally present in the U.S., pursuing his American dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering," Rozas said. "He is also in the early stages of applying for an EB-1/Adjustment of Status as a researcher with extraordinary ability.“

Doroudi's LinkedIn page says he is a "trained metallurgy engineer with over ten years of academic experience in Materials Science, welding, and brazing."

He is studying at the University of Alabama with an active I-20/SEVIS status at the university, his attorney said.

"The University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student has been detained off campus by federal immigration authorities," the university said in a statement. "Federal privacy laws limit what can be shared about an individual student. International students studying at the University are valued members of the campus community, and International Student and Scholar Services is available to assist international students who have questions."

"UA has and will continue to follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities," it said.

PHOTO: The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower at the Malone Hood Plaza stands in front of Foster Auditorium on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala., June 16, 2019. (Bill Sikes/AP)

Doroudi is one of multiple college students to be recently detained by ICE.

Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national, was arrested by immigration authorities as she was headed to meet her friends and break her fast on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE. Khalil had been one of the leaders of pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University last spring.

Khalil was taken from his student apartment building in lower Manhattan, and then to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before being transferred to Louisiana

President Donald Trump claimed Khalil was a "Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and said this is the "first arrest of many to come" in a post on his Truth Social platform this month.

"We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country -- never to return again," he added.

Khalil and his lawyers have denied he supports Hamas or has any ties to the group.

A second student involved with the protests at Columbia University was also arrested by the Department of Homeland Security this month.

Leqaa Korda was arrested by agents from Homeland Security Investigations for allegedly overstaying her expired visa -- which terminated on Jan. 26, 2022. Korda was also allegedly arrested in 2024 for her involvement in the protests, according to DHS.

ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman contributed to this report.


ICE detains University of Alabama doctoral student as government's college crackdown continues

Patrick Smith
Thu, March 27, 2025 

A doctoral student at the University of Alabama has been arrested and detained by immigration authorities, as the Trump administration continues to target noncitizens in higher education.

The university said in a Wednesday statement that the student was recently "detained off campus by federal immigration authorities." Due to federal privacy laws, the college couldn't reveal any more about the case, but it added that international students are "valued members of the campus community."

The Crimson White, the university's newspaper, reported that the man is Iranian national Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral candidate studying mechanical engineering. He was arrested at home at 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, the newspaper reported.

Alireza Doroudi on the campus of the University of Alabama.

According to records available on ICE’s website, Doroudi is currently being held in a “detention facility.”

It is unclear why he was detained, what charges he may face, or whether he has retained a lawyer.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an emailed statement: "ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa. This individual posed significant national security concerns."

The University of Alabama College Democrats said in a Wednesday statement that it was aware of Doroudi's arrest and detainment, calling the news a bitter blow to the campus community.

"Our fears have come to pass. Donald Trump, Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA's international community," the group said. "As far as we know right now, ICE is yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities around the country."

The news of Doroudi's detainment comes a day after a video emerged showing Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, being arrested in the street in Massachusetts by ICE officers. The DHS said she was arrested for "glorifying and supporting terrorists" and added that she had shown support for Hamas, the Palestinian political party and militant group.

Several other students and recent graduates have been seized or have had federal warrants issued for their arrest in recent weeks, including Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who is being held in Louisiana and faces deportation despite holding a green card. Columbia student Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent U.S. resident, also faces a deportation order but a judge ruled this week that she cannot be detained.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

University of Alabama confirms immigration authorities detained student

Isaac Goffin
Wed, March 26, 2025 

University of Alabama confirms immigration authorities detained student

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — The University of Alabama confirmed Wednesday evening federal immigration authorities detained a student off campus.

“The University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student has been detained off campus by federal immigration authorities,” the university said in a statement. “Federal privacy laws limit what can be shared about an individual student. International students studying at the University are valued members of the campus community, and International Student and Scholar Services is available to assist international students who have questions. UA has and will continue to follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities.”

The university did not provide more information, and it is unclear why the student was detained.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump’s administration has been on an immigration crackdown since Trump took office in January. ICE reported that in the first 50 days of the Trump administration, it made 32,809 enforcement arrests.

Mahmoud Khalil, who was the lead negotiator for the Columbia University pro-Palestinian encampments, was detained by ICE agents earlier in March. Khalil, who was a lawful permanent resident at the time of his arrest, graduated from the university in December.

Khalil is in federal custody while a judge is considering where his case should be litigated. Trump said March 10 that Khalil would be the first of many foreign students deported as “terrorist sympathizers.”

The Trump administration is attempting to deport Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old junior at Columbia University. Chung is a lawful permanent resident and has lived in the country since she was 7. She participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University. A federal U.S. judge agreed to Chung’s request Tuesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from detaining her or moving her out of New York.

Federal authorities detained a Tufts University doctoral student who has been identified as Rumeysa Ozturk. A federal judge ordered Tuesday that Ozturk can stay in the U.S. for now.

The Associated Press reported that Ozturk co-authored an op-ed article in The Tufts Daily. That op-ed criticized the university’s response to its community union Senate passing resolutions demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.

“From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true,” Tufts University said in a statement.

CBS 42 News will provide updates on the story as they become available.

Family calls for release of woman legally in U.S. for 50 years and now detained by ICE

Kimmy Yam
Wed, March 26, 2025


Lewelyn Dixon.


After a University of Washington lab technician and green card holder was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, her family is speaking out.

Lewelyn Dixon, 64, who’s had legal permanent status in the U.S. for 50 years, was arrested at the airport in Seattle and placed into ICE custody after coming back from a trip to her native Philippines in late February. She has a hearing scheduled for July, but her loved ones are calling for her release, telling NBC News that she is the glue that holds the family together.

“She’s always been our go-to,” said Dixon’s niece Lani Madriaga, who described her as a mother figure. “She’s always been that.”

ICE did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

Dixon is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, Madriaga said, where she’s been socializing with the other detainees, translating and helping them communicate with their attorneys amid the wait before her hearing.

Dixon’s attorney, Benjamin Osorio, said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection likely spotted a decades-old embezzlement conviction on her record upon her return, which prompted the detention. Dixon, who pleaded guilty to the nonviolent offense in 2000, was ordered to pay restitution and spend 30 days in a halfway house, court documents show. In 2019, she finished paying restitution.

Dixon had been a vault teller and operations supervisor at Washington Mutual Bank, where she “removed cash from the vault on eight separate occasions” without the bank’s authorization, according to her plea agreement. In total, she removed $6,460.


Dixon never told the family about the conviction, Madriaga said, who called it her aunt’s “darkest secret.”

“If she hadn’t traveled, it wouldn’t have triggered this,” Osorio said.

And though Dixon has also long been eligible for U.S. citizenship, Osorio said, she promised her father that she would keep her Filipino status so that she could retain property and land back in the Philippines.

“She probably did not understand the risk,” Osorio said. “Otherwise, she probably would have … naturalized before she traveled.”

Lewelyn Dixon.

Dixon came to the U.S. when she was 14, immediately helping Madriaga and her siblings, who are also immigrants, settle into life in their new country.

“We stayed together. We slept in the same room. We had a bunk bed and an extra bed, and we stayed in that room during our school years,” Madriaga, 59, said. “She was very independent, and she was a good role model, making sure to have hard earned work.”

Later on, when Madriaga’s sister went through a divorce, becoming a single mom, Dixon moved to Washington state so she could be there for the children and to pitch in with rent. Madriaga went through her own divorce years later and said Dixon was also there to help with the kids.

“That was hard. She made sure she took care of my youngest one, because she was still a minor,” Madriaga said. “She’s like a second mom to her.”

At the lab, Dixon is a dedicated worker, Madriaga said. She had even scheduled herself to work a shift the night she was to get off the flight, she added. Dixon was on the cusp of her 10-year anniversary at work, during which her pension would vest. Her family members are now worried she’ll lose both her job and her pension after being away for so long.

Susan Gregg, a spokesperson at UW Medicine, would not elaborate on Dixon’s case, but said that she had worked as a lab technician at the hospital since 2015.

“UW Medicine is dedicated to the well-being of all employees and hopes Lewelyn receives due process in a timely manner,” Gregg said.

Madriaga said that the family is speaking out for their aunt and also hoping to help others protect themselves from a similar fate.

“To the people who avoided becoming a citizen like my aunt, who thought that she was protected: No. Go get your citizenship,” Madriaga said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

]

 Rally held outside ICE detention center in WA for 2 union members arrested

Franque Thompson

FOX NEWS
Thu, March 27, 2025 


The Brief

Communities rallied for the release of union organizer Alfredo "Lelo" Juarez, detained by ICE, emphasizing his advocacy for farmworker rights and the circumstances of his arrest.

Juarez, facing removal despite living in the U.S. since childhood, was arrested after ICE agents stopped his car, raising concerns about targeted enforcement.

The rally also highlighted the detention of Lewelyn Dixon, a permanent resident and union member, due to a past conviction, reflecting broader fears over immigrant worker rights.

TACOMA, Wash. - Communities rallied outside the Northwest Detention Center on Thursday for the release of two union members arrested by immigration agents this month.

Farmworker, Alfredo "Lelo" Juarez, was the most recent arrest, which happened on Tuesday in Sedro-Wooley.

Grassroots organization Community to Community (C2C) used the power of social media to raise awareness and support for Juarez. The 25-year-old is a farmworker leader for C2C, as well as an organizer and member of Familias Unidas por la Justicia.

"Lelo is a labor organizer, a dedicated advocate for farmworkers and a beloved member of our community," said Tony Mellilo, President of the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We demand he be released and allowed to return to his home here in NW Washington."

The backstory

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Juarez, who is a citizen of Mexico, was ordered to be "removed to his home country by an immigration judge on March 27, 2018." ICE said it conducted a joint federal law enforcement arrest in Sedro-Woolley on March 25.

His supporters said on March 25, Juarez was taking his partner to work when ICE agents stopped his car and broke his window to arrest him.

Though ICE did not specify why Juarez was being detained, ICE spokesperson David Yost said Juarez refused to comply with commands to exit his car.

Yost further wrote in a statement, "ICE does not indiscriminately conduct enforcement actions on random people. ICE conducts targeted enforcement actions that are based on intelligence-driven leads focused on aliens identified for arrest and removal from the United States. U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to pursue relief from removal. However, once they have exhausted all due process and appeals, the aliens remain subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge and ICE must carry out that order."

The National Farm Worker Ministry said Juarez came to the United States as a child and has been an activist for farmworker rights in Washington since he was 12.

"We are quite distressed by his arrest and detention. He has lived and worked in this country for many years and is only seeking to make life better for farm workers and immigrants," said Julie Taylor, Executive Director of National Farm Worker Ministry.

In June 2015, at 15 years old, Juarez was arrested in Bellingham for driving the wrong way down a one-way street, telling officers he was 18 and without a license. Juarez later told FOX 13 Seattle, "I thought I was going to get away with it, but that was a bad mistake that I made."

During the 2015 incident, officers weren’t able to identify Juarez, so they called Border Patrol, who then sent the teen to the Northwest Detention Center. His family sued the City of Bellingham claiming racial profiling and agreed to a settlement.

Now, Juarez and his family are up against a new fight, as ICE said he will "remain in custody pending removal proceedings."

Big picture view

The family of Lewelyn Dixon is in a similar situation.

"She's been here over 50-plus years. You would think that being a permanent resident is protection," said Lani Madriaga, Dixon’s niece.

Dixon, a SEIU Local 925 member and lab technician at the University of Washington, was arrested and transferred to an ICE detention center in early March. Despite holding a green card, in 2001 Dixon was convicted of embezzlement. Madriaga said immigration attorneys told the family that was possibly the reason for her detainment.

"It's been so long that it's happened and that was a mistake," said Madriaga.

Labor leaders, rank and file union members, and community members spoke during the rally outside the Northwest Detention Center.

"Since its founding, the labor movement has been clear: a threat to one of us is a threat to all of us," said April Sims and Cherika Carter, executive officers of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We will not stand by while the federal government’s cruel and chaotic attacks on immigrant workers escalate. The rights of all working people – to organize on the job, to exercise our constitutional rights of due process and protection from unlawful search and seizure – are under threat."

Trump asks Supreme Court for OK to cut teacher-training money as part of anti-DEI push

MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Wed, March 26, 2025 

President Donald Trump speaks at an education event and executive order signing in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training.

A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. An appeals court turned away a plea from the administration to allow them to resume.

The government asked the high court to step in, arguing that the order is one of several issued by federal judges around the country wrongly forcing it to keep paying out millions in grant money.

The Supreme Court called for a response to the appeal by Friday.

It comes after U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued a temporary restraining order sought by eight Democratic-led states that argued the cuts were likely driven by efforts from President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Republican president signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, and his administration has started overhauling much of its work, including cutting dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful.

“So long as there is no prompt appellate review of these orders, there is no end in sight for district-court fiscal micromanagement," acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris wrote.

The Justice Department has filed four other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions amid a wave of lawsuits that have slowed, at least for now, aspects of Trump's agenda.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal asking to narrow court orders that have imposed a nationwide hold on Trump’s desire to restrict birthright citizenship. An appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers is also pending.

The justices previously rejected a bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and did not immediately allow Trump’s firing to proceed of the head of a federal watchdog agency. A later ruling from a lower court, though, did force Office of Special Counsel head Hampton Dellinger from his job.

The two education programs at issue — the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development — provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued. They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.

The administration halted the programs without notice in February. The administration argues the states could at least temporarily draw on their own funds to continue funding the programs.

Joun, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, found that the cancellations probably violated a federal law that requires a clear explanation for such cost-cutting moves.

The appellate panel that rejected the administration’s request for a stay also was made up of judges nominated by Democratic presidents.

California is leading the lawsuit and is joined by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin.

The order the administration wants from the high court would allow the cuts to go forward while the legal fight over them plays out.
___

This story been corrected to reflect that there are four other emergency appeals filed by the Trump administration at the Supreme Court, not three.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to freeze dozens of teacher training grants

John Fritze, CNN
Wed, March 26, 2025 

Demonstrators gather outside of the offices of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC, on March 13 to protest against mass layoffs and budget cuts at the agency. - Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow it to freeze millions of dollars in grants to states for addressing teacher shortages over allegations that the money was being used on programs that take part in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The case is the latest from the Trump administration’s second-term agenda to reach the Supreme Court’s emergency docket – and the latest to question the power of federal district court judges to temporarily block the administration’s policies.

“This case exemplifies a flood of recent suits that raise the question: ‘Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever)’ millions in taxpayer dollars?” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration’s top appellate attorney, told the Supreme Court.

“This court should put a swift end to federal district courts’ unconstitutional reign as self-appointed managers of executive branch funding and grant-disbursement decisions,” she wrote.

The justices are already considering whether to limit a court order blocking President Donald Trump from enforcing his birthright citizenship order and a case involving probationary federal employees.

In early February, the Trump administration attempted to terminate 104 of 109 grants that had been awarded under two programs that train teachers in traditionally underserved schools. Eight blue states sued and a federal judge in Boston issued an order temporarily blocking the administration from freezing the funding. A federal appeals court declined to overturn that order.

The administration, in its request for an emergency intervention, claimed that it was ending the funding to the states’ programs as part of Trump’s crackdown on DEI initiatives. Officials sent a brief form notice to the grant awardees and did not provide specific evidence that their programs were engaged in any DEI practices.

The case is the latest where judges have reversed Trump moves to withhold federal funding already promised to various grant programs. It is also one of several lawsuits touching on the president’s anti-DEI gambits. The federal district court has set a hearing in the case for Friday.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency appeals rising from the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, ordered the states that sued to response by Friday.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Trump asks Supreme Court to slash teacher training funds in war on DEI

Mark Sherman

INDEPENDENT
Thu, March 27, 2025 

The Trump administration has escalated its legal battle over education funding cuts, taking its case to the Supreme Court.

The administration is seeking to overturn a lower court's block on cuts to teacher training programs, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

A Boston federal judge initially halted the cuts, citing their detrimental impact on training programs designed to address the national teacher shortage.

The administration's subsequent appeal to the Boston federal appeals court was also rejected.

The legal challenge was initiated by eight Democratic-led states, who argue that the cuts are politically motivated and aim to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

The states point to President Donald Trump's executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education and the administration's subsequent overhaul of department initiatives.

Trump holds up a pen after signing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education (AFP via Getty Images)

Dozens of contracts have been terminated, labeled by the administration as "woke" and wasteful.

The Justice Department has filed three other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal asking to narrow court orders that have imposed a nationwide hold on Trump’s desire to restrict birthright citizenship. An appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers is also pending.

The justices previously rejected a bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and did not immediately allow Trump’s firing to proceed of the head of a federal watchdog agency. A later ruling from a lower court, though, did force Office of Special Counsel head Hampton Dellinger from his job.

The two education programs at issue – the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development – provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued.

Hampton Dellinger has been forced from his job (via REUTERS)

They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.

The administration halted the programs without notice in February.

Joun, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, found that the cancellations probably violated a federal law that requires a clear explanation for such cost-cutting moves.

The appellate panel that rejected the administration’s request for a stay also was made up of judges nominated by Democratic presidents.

California is leading the lawsuit and is joined by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin.

The order the administration wants from the high court would allow the cuts to go forward while the legal fight over them plays out.


Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let it cut teacher training grants

Maureen Groppe and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

Wed, March 26, 2025 

WASHINGTON − The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to let it cancel teacher preparation grants that the Education Department says promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

In an emergency request, the administration said it shouldn't have to fund millions of dollars for the programs while eight Democratic-led states are challenging the decision to end them.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris described the case as one of "a flood of recent suits" in which a single District Court judge wielded "unchecked power" to block administration policies that could save taxpayers millions of dollars. She called the case an ideal example to prevent "micromanagement" from District Court judges.

"So long as there is no prompt appellate review of these orders, there is no end in sight for district-courtfiscal micromanagement," Harris wrote in her filing. "Only this Court can right the ship −and the time to do so is now."

The appeal for intervention was the fifth the administration has made to the court as judges around the country have hit the brakes on the blizzard of actions Trump has taken to reshape the government and consolidate power.

The federal judge in Boston who is hearing the dispute over education grants ordered the Education Department to temporarily restore the funding to those states earlier this month.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration's request to block that order.

Appeals Judge William Kayatta said the department's cancellations letters to grant recipients lacked a "reasoned explanation" for ended funding Congress authorized to recruit and train teachers for traditionally under-served schools.

Empty classroom with no students

Kayatta, writing for the three judges − all of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents − said cutting the funding will result in staff layoffs and program disruptions.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading a group of eight Democratic states attorneys general challenging the termination, said California stands to lose at least $148 million for programs that help train teachers to go into hard-to-fill positions, like math and science, and into high-poverty or high need schools.

The Education Department said it canceled grants used to train teachers and education agencies on "divisive ideologies," which it said included DEI, "critical race theory" and "anti-racism."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump asks Supreme Court to let it cut teacher training grants

ANTI PROGRESSIVE WITCH HUNT

Trump administration expands university DEI probes to California

'MERIT' MEANS WHITE STR8 MALE

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2025 

UCLA is among the University of California campuses targeted by the Trump administration for an investigation into admissions practices. (AFP)

President Donald Trump's administration said Thursday it will investigate admissions practices at some of California's top universities, broadening a campaign against elite educational institutions.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had ordered probes into how students are admitted to the private Stanford University, as well as to three of the most prestigious campuses of the University of California system -- Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine.

"President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country," Bondi said in a statement.

"Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin."

A spokesperson for the University of California said the institutions have not considered race in admissions since it was outlawed in the state by a 1996 ballot measure, but clarified school applications gather race and ethnicity data "for statistical purposes only."

"This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admissions," the spokesperson added.

A Stanford spokesperson said in a statement that the private university "immediately took steps to ensure compliance in our admissions processes" after the US Supreme Court eliminated race-based affirmative action in 2023.

Conservatives have long griped that America's foremost universities make it easier for ethnic minority students to attend.

They say the insistence on the notion of "diversity, equity and inclusion," or DEI, is damaging and unfair to otherwise well-qualified candidates.

Bondi's announcement comes with elite institutions across the country on the back foot.

This month Trump's administration revoked $400 million of funding from New York's Columbia University, claiming school officials had not sufficiently protected Jewish students during last year's campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza.

On Friday Columbia announced a package of concessions around defining anti-Semitism, policing protests and oversight for specific academic departments in a bid to head off the funding squeeze.

A number of students at various colleges around the country have also been targeted for deportation, in what the government's critics say is part of a broader campaign to silence dissent at America's fractious universities and bring the left-leaning sector to heel.

Trump order targets 'improper ideology' at famed US museums

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2025 

Trump's effort to reshape the US government has increasingly extended to cultural issues, where he is seeking to stamp his conservative mark. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to remove "improper ideology" from the famed Smithsonian Museums -- and the National Zoo -- expanding his conservative clampdown on cultural institutions.

Trump, who has sought to root out what he called "woke" culture since returning to power in January, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender.

His order puts hardline Vice President JD Vance in charge of efforts to carry out the order at the Smithsonian's museums, educations and research centers.

Trump said this should include a drive to "remove improper ideology from such properties."

The Smithsonian operates 21 internationally renowned museums and galleries, mainly in and around Washington, dedicated to art, science, space and American history.

They include the National Zoo in the US capital, which recently welcomed two giant pandas from China, debuting them to the public just days after Trump's inauguration for a second term.

The presidential order -- titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" -- targeted a number of examples of what it also called "corrosive ideology."

It said the National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of the newest Smithsonian additions, had described hard work and the nuclear family as "aspects of 'White Culture.'"

Trump also targeted what he said was a plan by the as-yet-unopened American Women's history museum for "celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women's sports."

There was no immediate reaction from the Smithsonian.

- 'Safe and beautiful' -


The Smithsonian Institute was founded in the mid-19th century with a donation from a deceased and childless British chemist, James Smithson, who asked in his will for his wealth to be used to create an educational institution in the then-young United States -- a country he had never set foot in.

Trump's wide-ranging 21st century effort to reshape the US government has increasingly extended to cultural issues, where he is seeking to stamp his conservative mark.

The 78-year-old Republican recently took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center in Washington, a famed arts venue, after complaining that it was too liberal.


The president has also eyed reforms in governance of the US capital city, which he has repeatedly complained of having high crime and unsightly nuisances such as graffiti.

In a separate order on Thursday titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful," Trump directed the creation of an inter-agency task force to increase immigration enforcement and other law enforcement priorities.

It also calls for the development of a "coordinated beautification plan" for the city.

"We will take over our horribly run Washington, DC, and clean up, renovate, and rebuild our capital so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime," Trump said on the campaign trail last year -- a message reposted Thursday on X by the White House.

Washington's approximately 700,000 residents are overwhelmingly Democrats, with the party's candidate Kamala Harris winning over 90 percent of the vote last November.

The city has a unique status in the country as it is not a part of any state. It has no voting representation in Congress -- despite having a population larger than two states.


Though the city now runs its own affairs, Congress -- currently controlled by Republicans -- retains the ability to take back control, something Trump has repeatedly threatened to do.

With that backdrop, city authorities have sought to develop a conciliatory relationship with the president, quickly fulfilling his requests, such as removing some homeless encampments and a "Black Lives Matter" mural.

Trump’s 'improper ideology' purge blasted as 'fascist thuggery'

Donald Trump gestures to the crowd as sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. look on near the exit, during a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., November 4, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

David Badash

NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

March 28, 2025

President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, mandating the removal of what he calls “improper ideology,” is being described as “chilling,” amid warnings of fascism. The order also criticizes the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Women’s History Museum, and the American Art Museum.

Issued Wednesday evening, the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order denounces what Trump describes as “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”



“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” the order reads.

It appears to be an attempt to push back on efforts to examine and dismantle racism, white supremacy, and misogyny.

“The order,” Reuters reported, “is vague about what the president views as anti-American ideology. But it suggests Trump is seeking to purge elements of what conservatives view as a revisionist history of the United States that places systemic racism at the heart of its narrative.”

It also comes “as the Trump administration presses forward in its war on diversity, equity and inclusion, a widely used label applied to efforts to improve workplace culture and create more opportunities for disadvantaged groups,” NBC News added.

Created by an act of Congress, the Smithsonian is a Washington, D.C. based entity encompassing over 40 museums and libraries, another 14 education and research centers, and a zoo. A quasi-governmental entity, it also has a private endowment. But about two-thirds of its budget comes from the federal government.

The executive order “marks the Republican president’s latest salvo against cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities,” the Associated Press reported. “Trump recently had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.”

Critics are leveling charges of fascism.

“Trump to seize control of Smithsonian,” lamented Dr. Iain MacLaren, an astrophysicist at the University of Glasgow. “Fascism seeks to rewrite history and force its narrative. The trigger? Efforts to tell stories of women and black people.”

“This is horrifying,” wrote U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL). “But it’s also a sign of Trump’s deep and abiding fragility. He’s still the kid from the outer boroughs. Strong people go to museums to learn. Weak people run out at the first sign of something that challenges them.”

“Enslaved people built the Smithsonian,” noted Dr. Allison Wiltz, a Black womanist scholar, writer, and editor. “And yet, Trump doesn’t see Black history as worthy, so he’s ordering our contributions removed. You can tell a lot about someone by how they choose to use their power. All he does is cause harm.”

Veteran journalist Lauren Wolfe declared, “This is unabashed fascism.”

“First Trump removes any reference of diversity from the present — now he’s trying to remove it from our history,” observed U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). “Let me be PERFECTLY clear— you cannot erase our past and you cannot stop us from fulfilling our future.”

National security, defense, and intelligence investigative reporter Jeff Stein commented, “Trump goes full-on Soviet with intent to scrub Smithsonian museums etc of ‘improper ideology’.”

Trump order targets 'improper ideology' at famed US museums

AFP
Thu, March 27, 2025 

Trump's effort to reshape the US government has increasingly extended to cultural issues, where he is seeking to stamp his conservative mark (Annabelle GORDON)Annabelle GORDON/AFP/AFPMore

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to remove "improper ideology" from the famed Smithsonian Museums -- and the National Zoo -- expanding his conservative clampdown on cultural institutions.

Trump, who has sought to root out what he called "woke" culture since returning to power in January, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender.

His order puts hardline Vice President JD Vance in charge of efforts to carry out the order at the Smithsonian's museums, educations and research centers.

Trump said this should include a drive to "remove improper ideology from such properties."

The Smithsonian operates 21 internationally renowned museums and galleries, mainly in and around Washington, dedicated to art, science, space and American history.

They include the National Zoo in the US capital, which recently welcomed two giant pandas from China, debuting them to the public just days after Trump's inauguration for a second term.

The presidential order -- titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" -- targeted a number of examples of what it also called "corrosive ideology."

It said the National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of the newest Smithsonian additions, had described hard work and the nuclear family as "aspects of 'White Culture.'"

Trump also targeted what he said was a plan by the as-yet-unopened American Women's history museum for "celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women's sports."

There was no immediate reaction from the Smithsonian.

- 'Safe and beautiful' -

The Smithsonian Institute was founded in the mid-19th century with a donation from a deceased and childless British chemist, James Smithson, who asked in his will for his wealth to be used to create an educational institution in the then-young United States -- a country he had never set foot in.

Trump's wide-ranging 21st century effort to reshape the US government has increasingly extended to cultural issues, where he is seeking to stamp his conservative mark.

The 78-year-old Republican recently took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center in Washington, a famed arts venue, after complaining that it was too liberal.

The president has also eyed reforms in governance of the US capital city, which he has repeatedly complained of having high crime and unsightly nuisances such as graffiti.

In a separate order on Thursday titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful," Trump directed the creation of an inter-agency task force to increase immigration enforcement and other law enforcement priorities.


It also calls for the development of a "coordinated beautification plan" for the city.

"We will take over our horribly run Washington, DC, and clean up, renovate, and rebuild our capital so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime," Trump said on the campaign trail last year -- a message reposted Thursday on X by the White House.

Washington's approximately 700,000 residents are overwhelmingly Democrats, with the party's candidate Kamala Harris winning over 90 percent of the vote last November.

The city has a unique status in the country as it is not a part of any state. It has no voting representation in Congress -- despite having a population larger than two states.


Though the city now runs its own affairs, Congress -- currently controlled by Republicans -- retains the ability to take back control, something Trump has repeatedly threatened to do.

With that backdrop, city authorities have sought to develop a conciliatory relationship with the president, quickly fulfilling his requests, such as removing some homeless encampments and a "Black Lives Matter" mural.

dk/des/jgc

Maddow Blog | Trump order targets ‘improper’ ideology at the Smithsonian Institution

Steve Benen
Fri, March 28, 2025 

The Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C.


As this week got underway, the public learned about an executive order from Donald Trump that targeted a series of government agencies to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” Included on the list was the Institute of Museum and Library Services — an independent agency described by The New York Times as “the federal government’s main source of support for the nation’s libraries, museums and archives.”

As the week neared its end, one specific museum — by some measures, the nation’s most famous — was apparently on the president’s mind. NBC News reported:


President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday taking aim at the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers. Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to eliminate “improper, divisive, or anti-American” ideology from programs at the Smithsonian Institution, which receives federal funding.


The same order, among other things, accused the Biden administration of using the Smithsonian to advance what the Republican president described as a “corrosive” ideology.

How does the White House define words such as “improper”, “divisive,” “anti-American” or “corrosive” in an ideological context? The order didn’t say. Presumably, Trump knows it when he sees it.

He went on to characterize the Smithsonian as an institution that was “once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement” — before it fell victim to a nefarious ideology that Trump considers “divisive.”

As part of the same directive, Vance — a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents — will be responsible for identifying and appointing Smithsonian board members who will commit to “advancing the celebration of America’s extraordinary heritage and progress.”

It was around this time two years ago when The Washington Post reported that the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery accepted a $650,000 contribution from the Republican’s Save America PAC to fund the official portraits of Donald and Melania Trump.

If the institution hoped that the arrangement might generate some goodwill, those hopes have apparently been dashed.

As part of the new executive order, the president also directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to restore federal parks and monuments that perpetuate a version of history that the White House considers “false.”

Who’ll decide which historical claims are deemed accurate? The order didn’t say that, either, though it’s difficult to be optimistic.

It comes on the heels of Trump’s recent takeover of the Kennedy Center, part of which included his desire to see the arts institution put on productions in line with cultural vision.

Perhaps the president can expedite matters by creating some kind committee to examine content he considers un-American?

The title on the White House’s order said the directive is intended to restore “sanity to American history.” Given the circumstances, “sanity” is not the first word that comes to mind.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

Trump orders elimination of 'anti-American ideology' from Smithsonian institutions

James Oliphant, Steve Holland
Thu, March 27, 2025 

FILE PHOTO: Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum reopens to the public in Washington

(Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered that "improper, divisive or anti-American ideology" be removed from the Smithsonian Institution, the vast museum and research complex that is a premier exhibition space for U.S. history and culture.

The Republican president, in an executive order, directed that Vice President JD Vance undertake the action.

The order also directs the Interior Department to restore federal parks, monuments and memorials that have been “removed or changed in the last years to perpetuate a false revision of history.”

The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” is vague about what the president views as anti-American ideology. But it suggests Trump is seeking to purge elements of what conservatives view as a revisionist history of the United States that places systemic racism at the heart of its narrative.

The order singles out the National Museum of African American History and Culture as problematic, claiming that it informs visitors that “hard work,” “individualism” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.”

The order also asserts the American Women’s History Museum plans to celebrate male athletes participating in women’s sports.

The White House did not elaborate on the order, and neither the Smithsonian nor the African-American History museum responded to requests for comment.

The Smithsonian spans 21 museums, most of them in the nation's capital lining the mall from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument, and including the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American History and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The Smithsonian, whose website says it is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, also encompasses 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

The order is in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to do away with diversity and inclusion programs in government, universities and corporations.

Vance is a member of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents.

According to Trump's order, the Democratic Biden administration “pushed a divisive ideology that reconstrued America’s promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed, inflecting revered institutions like the Smithsonian and national parks with false narratives.”

Trump earlier this year made himself chairman of the Kennedy Center in Washington, indicating that he wants to leave his mark on U.S. arts and culture as part of his presidency.

Trump has been a strident critic of renaming or removing Confederate statues and monuments. Earlier this year, he restored two U.S. Army bases to their former names of Fort Benning and Fort Bragg despite a federal law that prohibits honoring generals who fought for the South during the Civil War. The administration says the names honor different individuals, all former soldiers.

In 2017, Trump defended white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, who protested the city’s decision to remove a statue of the confederate commander Robert E. Lee. At the time, he said there were “very fine people of both sides” of the fight, sparking widespread outrage.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Leslie Adler and Ross Colvin)

Trump issues executive order targeting ‘woke’ and ‘anti-American’ culture in US museums

David Mouriquand
Fri, March 28, 2025 

EURONEWS

Trump issues executive order targeting ‘woke’ and ‘anti-American’ culture in US museums

President Donald Trump has revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution - the world’s largest museum, education and research complex - with an executive order targeting funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology."

The order, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", targets any ideology that he considers "anti-American", in what is his latest attack on culture he deems too liberal, “woke”, and out of step with conservative sensibilities.

Trump claimed there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth," adding that it casts the “founding principles” of the United States in a “negative light.”

The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents, in charge of overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

The Smithsonian museums offer free entry to up to 30 million visitors each year.

People wait in line to enter the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Cultural on the National Mall in Washington - AP Photo

Under Trump’s order, Vance will also work with the White House budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian Institution isn’t spent on programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.”

 

University of Michigan closes its DEI office, ending multi-million dollar investment into diversity

Ali Bianco
Thu, March 27, 2025



The University of Michigan — one of the leading academic bastions of diversity, equity and inclusion in the country — is shuttering the doors of its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and shutting down its model DEI program.

In an email on Thursday, the university’s leaders pointed to the court-order enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on “restoring merit-based opportunity” and ending DEI programs across the country, as well as the “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education that threatened to eliminate federal funding for universities that did not eliminate their DEI efforts.

As a result, the university’s DEI office — which launched in 2016, the start of the first Trump administration — and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion will close. The university’s DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, the reimagined version of their original umbrella strategy for DEI across their schools and colleges, will be discontinued.

“These decisions have not been made lightly. We recognize the changes are significant and will be challenging for many of us, especially those whose lives and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are now pivoting,” the announcement said.

Multiple universities and school systems across the country have caved under scrutiny from the Trump administration, removing DEI content from their websites and shutting down DEI programs. But the University of Michigan has long been considered a model for DEI initiatives across the country.

The end of its DEI office signals a big win for the Trump administration as it moves to end the focus on DEI in the American education system.

It’s a stark contrast from the launch of the DEI 1.0 program a decade ago when the university began “to enact far-reaching foundational change at every level, in every unit” and poured nearly $250 million into the program, according to an investigation from the New York Times.


The program made Michigan a national example, and in the face of backlash on “critical race theory” and widespread protests over the war in Gaza, the university strengthened those efforts. They hired more people in DEI offices and expanded the program.

Their DEI initiatives have not been without controversy, especially in their struggle to enroll Black students and to address complaints over campus protests following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. But university leaders noted Thursday that first-generation students have increased by 46 percent, and Pell Grant recipients increased by more than 30 percent.

Even as other universities started ending the use of diversity consideration across all hiring and admissions in the last year, Michigan had yet to enact widespread changes. Now diversity statements will not be allowed — for hiring, which they announced in December, but also for admissions, promotion, awards or any other assessments. They’re also updating their websites to ensure compliance with federal law.

Going forward, the university will be increasing investments in financial aid, expanding scholarship programs for students and expanding mental health support. Certain student multicultural spaces will remain open, according to the university.

“We are deeply grateful for the meaningful contributions of leaders, faculty and staff who have advanced our ongoing efforts to create an ever-more inclusive and respectful community,” the announcement said.

University of Michigan shuts DEI office, citing Trump orders and funding warning
Kanishka Singh
Thu, March 27, 2025 at 8:56 PM MDT
2 min read
10


The University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor


By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The University of Michigan - long seen as a bastion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs - said on Thursday it was closing its DEI office, citing executive orders from President Donald Trump and a warning from the federal Education Department.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has passed executive orders aimed at dismantling DEI in the government and private sector. The U.S. Education Department, in mid-February, warned of cuts in federal funding for universities if they continued with DEI programs.




The university said on Thursday it did not make its decision lightly and acknowledged its changes will be challenging for many people who support the programs. Its DEI office was launched almost a decade ago.

KEY QUOTES

"The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion will close. Student-facing services in ODEI will shift to other offices focused on student access and opportunity," the office of the university's president said.

"The DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, the umbrella strategy for schools, colleges and units, will be discontinued."


CONTEXT

Rights advocates say DEI programs help uplift marginalized communities by addressing historic inequities. Trump and his allies call the programs anti-merit and discriminatory against white people and men.

DEI programs have been part of workplace diversity efforts to ensure fairer representation for groups seen as historically marginalized, such as African Americans, LGBTQ+ community members, women, disabled people and other ethnic minorities in the United States.

DEI efforts picked up pace, including in the private sector, in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.

By last year, the university had spent more than $250 million on DEI efforts, the New York Times reported.