TOI Correspondent from Washington: College students from India usually embrace a life-style in US that’s stated to revolve round “residence and division.” Older graduate college students could also be just a little extra adventurous, shuttling between “Advisor and Budweiser.” The uncommon ones who’re audacious sufficient to dabble in political activism obtained a salutary warning this week with the Trump administration revoking the coed visa of a Chinese language scholar in California for taking part in pro-Palestinian rallies on the campus.
The State Division didn’t identify the coed however social media posts recognized her as Liu Lijun, a grad scholar at College of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Liu got here to prominence after her arrest in Could 2024 following campus unrest tied to the Israel-Hamas warfare after the Palestinian extremist group attacked Israel. Whereas some stories characterised her as an organizer main the protests towards Israel’s retaliation, others stated she was solely a participant whose arrest pitched her into the limelight.
Hypothesis about international scholar visa revocations has been within the air for weeks after President Trump signed an government order on January 29 geared toward combating what the administration described as rising antisemitism and harassment of Jewish college students on faculty campuses. The order particularly focused worldwide college students concerned in pro-Palestinian activism, authorizing the Departments of Training, State, and Homeland Safety to observe and report actions by international college students and workers that might result in investigations and, if warranted, visa revocations or deportations.
Liu Lijun’s visa revocation is alleged to be the primary of its form in current instances and comes on the heels of the Trump administration canning $400 million in federal funding from Columbia College for failing to struggle anti-semitism on campus. 9 different universities, together with George Washington College; Harvard College; Johns Hopkins College; New York College; Northwestern College; the College of California, Los Angeles; the College of California, Berkeley; the College of Minnesota; and the College of Southern California, are below scrutiny, with Justice Division officers visiting them to look into political activism by international college students, which extra excessive MAGA parts characterize as assist for terrorists.
Hundreds of scholars from India are learning at these campuses, all positioned in Democrat-run states and liberal enclaves within the US. India is now the main nation of origin for worldwide college students within the U.S., with 331,602 Indian college students enrolled in American greater training establishments, a 23% enhance from the prior 12 months when China was the highest nation.
Trump himself has railed towards “woke” and ‘liberal” activism on campuses, which he says are dominated by the “radical left” or “Marxist” influences that prioritize gender identification discussions and demanding race idea on the expense of conventional American rules. After he delivered a $ 400million blow to Columbia this week, the White Home trolled the college, posting a photograph of Trump with the message “Shalom Columbia!”
Most universities, together with Columbia, are rapidly falling in line at the same time as civil liberties activists are raging concerning the warfare on free speech and peaceable protests which have lengthy been the hallmark of American campuses. However MAGA hardliners argue that proper can’t be exercised by international college students, least of all these from China, whose authorities wouldn’t enable protests by its personal residents.
Not everyone seems to be satisfied concerning the Trump dispensation’s stance on anti-semitism although. “Revoking federal grants to Columbia College isn’t about combating anti-Semitism; it’s concerning the Trump administration’s warfare on training and science. If the Trump administration had been as critical about anti-Semitism … they’d not have stuffed their ranks with unapologetic antisemites,” Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler stated.
“At the moment’s announcement does nothing to maintain Jewish college students secure and sends a chilling message that universities should align with the MAGA agenda or face monetary break,” he added.
