In a recently published op-ed, a columnist makes the claim that “disagree[ing] with the Trump administration [will be enough for them to] come for your visa status.” I disagree.
While I cannot speak specifically to the approximately 40 visas revoked from Northeastern students and graduates as the details are still unclear, I generally support the State Department’s current policy.
Protesters have taken over buildings and public spaces on campuses and deprived students of their commencement ceremonies at universities nationwide. They have blocked traffic, acted openly adversarial to the United States and paid tribute to terrorist Yahya Sinwar. This goes well beyond simply voicing disapproval for President Donald Trump. While it is not appropriate to revoke a student’s visa simply because they oppose the actions or rhetoric of the president, I do not believe this is the reason why students have had their visas revoked.
It is worth stressing that speech, although protected under the First Amendment, can still be grounds for revoking a visa. Additionally, many international students have crossed the line of what counts as speech and what counts as action.
While most university demonstrations were peaceful, some were violent. Students calling to “globalize the intifada” and to free Palestine “from the river to the sea” — while simultaneously waving Hezbollah flags and wearing Hamas headbands, calling these terrorists “freedom fighters” and justifying their horrific actions as “legitimate resistance” — are reason enough to revoke student visas. These antisemitic activities have no place in America and neither do international students who support them.
If international students were to chant for “globalizing the Charleston church shooting,” call for a repeat of the Buffalo Massacre or openly endorse the actions of a group that brazenly targets racial or religious minorities such as the Ku Klux Klan, you would be hard pressed to find opposition to their visas getting revoked.
It should be no different here.
Matt Cosentino is a fourth-year political science major and the current president of the Northeastern College Republicans. He can be reached at cosentino.m@northeastern.edu.
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