00:00Across the United States, universities are facing an unprecedented crackdown.
00:08From visa suspensions and deportations to cuts in funding,
00:12the Trump administration has escalated efforts to tighten control over the country's top academic institutions,
00:18taking particular aim at international students.
00:21We didn't imagine a situation that would be this bad.
00:24We know that President Trump hasn't been that supportive of academia in the past,
00:28but this has been absolutely unreal.
00:31The White House's latest move has been to suspend the processing of all student visas,
00:36part of a broader government plan to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants,
00:42according to an internal government cable.
00:44We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that's coming here,
00:49whether they are students or otherwise.
00:53The State Department has since said that a global suspension on visa processing
00:56for international students would be brief,
00:59but confusion and concern remains for students preparing to start class this fall semester.
01:03U.S. campuses like Columbia University in New York were rocked by student protests
01:16against Israel's war in Gaza in the spring of 2024.
01:27The movement saw campus buildings across the country occupied,
01:31lectures disrupted, and sparked accusations of anti-Semitism,
01:35becoming a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's effort to reshape higher education.
01:40Very anti-Semitic when you take a look, whether it's Columbia, Harvard, Princeton,
01:45take a look, I don't know what's going on.
01:48Several hundred international students across the country have been threatened with the cancellation of their visas.
01:53Others have been detained or arrested for reasons ranging from taking part in the pro-Palestinian protests
01:58to minor infractions.
02:00This is not a matter of simply violating university rules.
02:04This is a movement, an anti-war movement.
02:07These April 2024 images show Mahmoud Khalil, a lead student negotiator of the protests at Columbia.
02:13Almost a year later, on the 8th of March, he was detained in front of his pregnant wife, Noor Abdallah.
02:18Khalil held permanent residency at the time of his arrest.
02:29The Trump administration has moved to revoke his green card,
02:32accusing Khalil of activities aligned with Hamas.
02:36Khalil's arrest has triggered outrage from free speech advocates,
02:43who say such a move threatens core democratic rights.
02:47Mahmoud Khalil was speaking out against U.S. government policies.
02:53And I want to ask you all,
02:56is this a democracy if we can't speak out against the policies of our own government?
03:03A federal judge has now ruled the administration's efforts to deport Khalil are likely unconstitutional.
03:09And it's not only students who've been impacted.
03:12Rasha Alouia, a professor at Brown University, was expelled from the U.S.
03:16after attending a funeral for the late Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah,
03:20during a visit to her home country of Lebanon.
03:22Hands off our doctors now!
03:24Hands off our doctors now!
03:26Rasha is the sweetest person.
03:29We've never had an issue with her in any way.
03:31She's an outstanding physician, outstanding person.
03:34She's a pleasure to work with.
03:37And we were horrified by this entire event.
03:40At a Senate hearing in May, Marco Rubio claimed to have revoked thousands of visas,
03:45largely those of students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
03:49The Secretary of State has since vowed to aggressively revoke visas to students from China,
03:54a top source of students to the U.S.
03:57Rubio said he would particularly go after students with connections to the Chinese Communist Party
04:02or studying in critical fields.
04:05I think the point of the mass cancellations of visas, the revocation of lawful status without notice or process,
04:13and the immediate deportation of people, sometimes even including American citizens, it appears.
04:19I think that's just designed to create a climate of fear, and it has worked.
04:23It's worked astonishingly well, and unfortunately well.
04:26The administration has pressured dozens of universities to eliminate diversity policies,
04:31threatening to cut funding and labeling them hotbeds for woke liberal ideology.
04:36In March, the Trump administration cut $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University,
04:42accusing it of not sufficiently addressing anti-Semitism.
04:45Less than a week later, Columbia officials responded by stating they had issued suspensions,
04:50temporary degree revocations, and expulsions for students who had occupied a campus building during the 2024 Gaza protests.
04:57I myself was actually just expelled from Columbia two days ago for, you know, for participation in the protest to,
05:10you know, and the university's complicity in the genocide in Palestine.
05:15And it's, you know, it's pretty egregious.
05:19While some universities have complied with the Trump administration's demands,
05:23Harvard has rejected submitting to wide-ranging federal oversight.
05:27Its president, Alan Garber, stated the university will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights.
05:34The administration has hit back with a raft of punitive measures,
05:37shedding Harvard's contracts with the federal government, slashing its multibillion-dollar grants,
05:42challenging its tax-free status, and seeking to ban the university from having foreign students.
05:47Undeterred by the cuts, the Harvard president doubled down against the administration at an annual graduation ceremony.
05:52Members of the class of 2025, from down the street, across the country, and around the world.
06:03Around the world, just as it should be.
06:17Foreign nationals make up more than a quarter of Harvard's student body.
06:26Their absence would mean major financial losses for the country's oldest university.
06:31Press our funding, now our trans.
06:34We will fight until this ends.
06:36Harvard's got to behave themselves. Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect.
06:42They've got to behave themselves. You know, I'm looking out for the country. And for Harvard. I want Harvard to do well. I want Harvard to be great again, probably.
06:51With visa restrictions and research funding cut, top scholars are already eyeing opportunities abroad.
06:57In the 2023-24 academic year, more than 1.1 million foreign students were enrolled at U.S. campuses. A record number.
07:08Free speech is the center of society. And in this case, to see banned words impringing on the freedom of thought and expression directly from the government, astonishing.
07:19I never thought I would see that day.
07:23Eyes off our campus now!
07:49As a matter of being in this case, it's $11.
07:59With us, it was a great deal.
08:01We see U.S. of as a veteran.
08:03We see the Și Hoo.
08:05We see U.S. of as a veteran.
08:07We see U.S. of as a veteran.
08:09We see U.S. of as a veteran.
08:12After this, we will talk about a veteran.
08:14We have a veteran.
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