In recent weeks, stories have emerged about college students who have escaped from campuses from immigration agents – aimed at deportation on the basis of their writings or activism – and detained in the federal detention, although they have never been charged with a crime.
Although the number of students concerned seems small – with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said about 300 students were directed last week – actions, part of the Trump administration’s immigration repression, raised fear and questions about the rights that these students have, especially free speech.
Experts, immigration attorneys and defenders have told ABC News that the Trump administration is using an unprecedented implementation of immigration law to accelerate its removal. The administration, for its part, maintains that the law is following the law and accuses some of the students detained for displaying support for Hamas and participating in movements that “create a junction,” Rubio said.
While legal experts said that the non -graduates are usually guaranteed the same free speech as US citizens, the Trump administration claims that their presence in the United States is a privilege. As their cases move through the federal courts, students who challenge their elimination have the potential to change the law associated with freedom of expression and immigration, according to legal experts.
Meanwhile, students caught at the Trump administration can be detained for months, although they have never been charged with crime for the mass delay of cases in US immigration courts.
Here’s what the experts say to know about their rights:
What rights do student visa or green card holders have if threatened with deportation?
After the Trump administration has tried to cancel a visa or a green card, which provides a permanent residence, not a short-term stay in the United States for a specific purpose, the students are still entitled to hearing immigration to determine whether their deportations are justified, according to Cheryl David, a New York immigration lawyer.
“The level of a proper process to which they may be entitled will depend on what immigration status they have in the United States and whether the Trump administration has a basis for the withdrawal of their legal status in the United States, which has a reasonable basis in the law,” says Eloora Mukerji, Professor in Colombia and the Imigper Clinic Director
During these removal proceedings, non -graduates have the right to have access to a lawyer, but they are not guaranteed as they would do in a criminal court. If they are detained while expecting their hearing for removal, non -citizens are also entitled to apply for Habeas to challenge their detention.
Although all recent students who have canceled their visas have no criminal records, the Trump administration has insisted that they be detained while their cases play, which means they could spend more than six months behind bars without being charged with a retired law professor.
“The Trump administration was much more aggressive than past administrations for the placement of people who have not been convicted of crimes in retaining immigration,” Yale-Lahr said.
The Trump administration justified the detention, claiming that some students have supported terrorist activities, pose a constant threat to the United States, or threaten the interests of the country’s foreign policy.
Have you canceled student visas administrations?
The Trump Administration Policy for the cancellation of student visas is celebrating the most aggressive approach of more than two decades, according to immigration lawyer Renata Castro.
“Because presidents have direct control over the issuance of student visas through embassies and consulates, they are able to recruit or reduce heat when it comes to issuing student visas by persons from certain countries,” Castro said.
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, the George W. Bush administration applied more streamlined immigration and student visas policies based on fears of national security. According to Castro, what makes the withdrawal of the Trump administration unique is that sometimes it is rooted in the exercise of freedom of speech – a basis that can eventually be challenged in court.
“The government is looking at speech – the exercise of freedom of speech – and uses it to dig into the perceived disorders of immigration so that they can cancel the student visa,” she said.
What role can colleges and universities associate with deportations?
If a college or university kicked a student for their campus activism, students face an increased risk of removal because they no longer have the status of a student required by their visa.
“If the school is not cooperating and they still go to school, they do not break their student’s status,” David said. “Then the government will have to find another way to say that they are removable by the United States.”
According to Greg Cheng of the American Immigration Bar Association, the recent repression of the Trump administration includes more aggressive action on the application in campuses, where some universities have cooperated with law enforcement authorities.
“I have not seen before the types of aggressive tactics that Ice now deals with retaining students in their hostels, on the campus or near the campus to apply immigration,” Chen said.
Can a student be deported because he threatens the US foreign policy?
In some cases, the Trump administration refers to a rarely used law to justify the elimination of non -icing on the basis of their influence on foreign policy. Colombia’s Mahmoud Halil and Georgetown University associate Badar Khan Suri were detained based on the law.
Mahmoud Halil spoke to the media members of the Rafa camp uprising at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group in Gaza, in New York, June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters
The provision, 8 USC ยง 237 (A) (4) (C) (I), allows the removal of unclesies if their presence in the United States may have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
According to an analysis of past immigration cases conducted by political scientists, Grame Blair and David Hausman, the United States refer to this law only 14 times in history as a basis for removal, including only twice since 2000, when it is the only basis for removal.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I’ve never seen this used,” says Cheryl David, a longtime immigration lawyer.
In order to prove that the US foreign policy threatens the US foreign policy, Yale-Lahr said the administration would have to present a sworn declarations or evidence to prove the impact of a person on foreign policy.
“If this is this foreign policy basis, you need a statement from a Secretary of State, who says magical words, the presence of this person would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” he said.
Mukherjee, of the Clinic for the Rights of the Immigrants of Colombian University, called the use of the law “unprecedented and unconstitutional” and believes that the policy will be overthrown by the courts as it is contrary to the first amendment.
“It is important for the US public to keep in mind that the first amendment protects the right to freedom of expression for all people in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. This has long been established a constitutional law issued by the Supreme Court for decades,” she said.
The Trump administration claims that calling the law is justified, legal and protects the interests of the United States.
What basis does the Trump administration use to remove?
The Trump administration claims that some students have supported terrorists as the basis for their removal. To prove this, David said, they will have to demonstrate that they have done more than simply practice their free speech.
“Because the person you know necessarily makes an option, saying that we think Israel is performing genocide, that will not be enough,” David. “But if they distribute flyers and encourage activities that the government thinks are related to terrorism, then it can be a reason to say that they have participated in terrorist activity.”
Authorities also carefully consider visa applications.
The federal authorities claimed that Colombia’s postgraduate and legal permanent resident Mahmoud Halil – who was first detained on the basis of his alleged impact on foreign policy – lied to his application for a green card. Experts said the study of visas applications could become a broader strategy for the Trump administration to justify deportations.
“If you do not disclose information about a green card application that the government thinks was essential whether or not they would recognize you in the United States, they may claim that you have cheated on this application,” David said.
Can a solution be appealed to remove?
Includes are usually the right to challenge the immigration judge’s decision to the Immigration Council or in the Federal Court; However, David noted that they may not be able to fully exercise their appeal if they are already in the US arrest and eliminated before their appellate rights are exhausted.
“Unless a federal judge saves this deportation, that person will be deported from the United States,” David said.
While other presidents – including Barack Obama – have adopted Swift Deportations policy, it seems that the Trump administration is testing the law limits, experts said.
Does the location where it has not been detained unquited during their immigration production?
According to Castro, retaining students detained as their cases move through the courts, it may encourage more people to write a spell-politician that the Trump administration is actively encouraging.
“When a person stays in detention, it is almost to break their spirit, because now they do not have the ability to work. They do not have access to free legal representation. Their life is falling apart,” she said. “The migrants who deport themselves are usually the ones who have not committed a crime and look in the mirror and think,” I treat it as a criminal, even though I’m not. “
The process of providing a bond in the immigration court is a marathon, according to Castro, which takes at least three weeks, and judges in some jurisdictions rarely address cases of habeas brought by non -citizens.
In some cases, the Trump administration has moved non -iconic areas where they have been arrested in ice -holding facilities in other states. The location where they are currently kept may be impactful if or when they submit a Habeas petition to the Federal Court, according to Nicholas Espirit, Deputy Juridical Director at the National Immigration Law Center.
For the non -iconic ice processing center in South Louisiana in Basil, Louisiana, they will eventually apply for Habes to the more conservative Western district of Louisiana and the Court of Appeal of the Fifth Circle.
Moving to another country can also complicate their legal representation and make it difficult to communicate with lawyers regularly, Espiritu said.
“These persons are students and the idea that they will have the necessary resources themselves to be able to provide this healthy legal protection, it simply demonstrates the way the actions taken by the federal government really strive to undermine, to be honest, the ability of these persons to be heard in court,” he said.
