As universities become targets for investigation and student arrests in the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestine protesting, even the annual custom of spring break has become cause for concern.
Hundreds of students and faculty rallied Wednesday at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza in solidarity with Mahmoud Khalil and other activists targeted by the federal government, waving signs reading “Teach Palestine” and “Education, not censorship.”
The speeches at the event were fiery, but the feeling on campus was one of apprehension. “In a completely non-hyperbolic way, I think we’re all freaking out,” said one student protester who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “Emotions are running high, and nobody really knows what’s going to happen.”
Some legal organizations and activist groups are warning international students not to travel to their home countries during spring break next week, worried they may not be allowed back into the U.S.
“There is a strong chance that upon trying to reenter the country, [student protesters] are stopped in the airport and detained for their activism,” said Cole Stanton, a member of Berkeley’s Law Students for Justice in Palestine. “The general advice is to not go unless you absolutely have to.”
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley said the school was also warning “students from select countries to avoid travel at this time,” noting the “current uncertainty about future U.S. entry requirements.”
The University of San Francisco is issuing similar guidance. “There is uncertainty as new policies and practices continue to be implemented,” a spokesperson said. “In light of this, we encourage students to reconsider travel over the next few weeks while we gain a clearer understanding of how these policies will affect them.”
The advice comes after the arrests this month of Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who is married to a U.S. citizen, and at least one other activist who participated in protests last spring at Columbia University. Officials on Wednesday detained a fellow at Georgetown University who is in the country on an employer-sponsored visa, claiming he was spreading “Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” The advice also comes amid reports of a possible ban on travel to the U.S. from Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and other countries.
Campus groups have been coordinating with Palestine Legal and the San Francisco-based Arab Resource & Organizing Center, among other organizations, to get up-to-date advice for international students worried about detention.
AROC director Lara Kiswani says demand for the group’s legal services in recent weeks has been “so high we can’t meet it,” adding, “Students have been panicked, and they don’t know how protected they are.”
The answer: not very. Kiswani said AROC has been advising noncitizens involved in pro-Palestine activism not to leave the country because of the risk of detention and deportation at airports. “In general, we’re definitely informing people that it is not advisable to travel outside of the United States right now, not just for students — anybody who is not a citizen,” she said.
One student at Wednesday’s protest, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said community members had been offering up their homes to students with nowhere else to go during spring break. “It’s crazy to say, but people are opening their doors to students who are concerned about this in a way that’s similar to Nazi Germany,” she said.
Hannah Zeavin, an assistant professor in the history department, said she meets regularly with international students who are afraid of being targeted for detention or deportation. She said Berkeley professors speak regularly with the school’s International Office and use informal whisper networks to stay up to date on constantly shifting guidance.
“One of the things that’s been very intense is saying to students, ‘This is what we’re saying on March 19, at 10:28 in the morning, and that’s subject to change,” Zeavin said.
Malak Afaneh, a former UC Berkeley law student, sparked headlines last year when a professor tried to grab a microphone from her during a protest at the professor’s house. Afaneh now lives in New York and is advising students there in her capacity as director of the Palestine Center for Public Policy.
Afaneh said her organization has gone so far as to advise students with visas not to attend protests, for fear of being recognized and targeted. She has also recommended that activists delete protest photos from social media and ask photographers to take down photos of them at demonstrations.
Back at Berkeley, a coalition of student groups has been hosting training sessions in partnership with AROC and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, educating students on what to do if they are approached by immigration officials.
AROC has also offered to represent students in court and aiding them with the naturalization and asylum process — though Kiswani said there are not many options for those on student visas.
“At the end of the day, in terms of the lowest hanging fruit for targeting, it is students like Mahmoud and others who don’t have a lot of rights afforded to them,” she said.
But Salton, the member of Law Students for Justice in Palestine, said the fear on campus has not quelled the desire to protest. In fact, the escalation of the immigration crackdown on Khalil and other students has emboldened a protest movement that had been moribund in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election.
“If I want to get any message across, it’s the fact that the students are united in wanting to fight back against the fear tactics,” Salton said. “Trump is trying to make an example, and we’re not going to sit idly by.”