By Lillian Glaros and Anastasia Merkulova
CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to better reflect that some students arrested by immigration enforcement officers did not participate in campus protests. This story has also been updated to better reflect Ismail Cosandal has been concerned about potentially losing his visa since before this year.
About 20 University of Maryland graduate students and community members gathered outside of the International Student and Scholar Services office Monday to demand it work to keep international students safe in response to concerns of the federal government revoking non-citizens’ student statuses and visas.
The protest, organized by this university’s Graduate Labor Union, aimed to ensure this university is setting up a system to inform international students about their statuses, according to GLU member Victoria Fernandez.
“We have to come together and stand together in solidarity to protect the students who have a right to be here and safely learn with us,” the teaching, learning, policy and leadership doctoral student said.
The group also wants this university to hold a town hall to educate students on what it is doing to protect international students from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as what the administration is doing in response to a letter asking for information about Chinese nationals conducting research at this university, according to Fernandez.
[UMD administration details response to federal inquiry about Chinese students, faculty]
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent university president Darryll Pines a letter on March 19 that urged him to provide the committee with various details on Chinese national researchers — both faculty members and students — including a list of labs and programs where they work.
GLU is circulating a petition that demands Pines not comply with the letter’s requests, The Diamondback reported Thursday.
Fernandez said it is important to show solidarity to protect international students.
“We need to keep our students safe, and no one else is going to do it but us,” Fernandez said.
GLU organizers wrote an email to ISSS leaders Monday that requested an appointment to immediately review students’ immigration and visa statuses and decided to remain outside of the office until they received a response about the appointment, computer science doctoral student and GLU organizer Nathalie Bonin said.
ISSS director Susan-Ellis Dougherty wrote in an email to GLU organizers Monday afternoon that she couldn’t meet with students on Monday, but they could schedule an appointment for a meeting. She urged international students experiencing threats or emergency situations to contact the office for an emergency appointment.
Dougherty also wrote in the email that the office has increased its review of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System since the start of this semester, and will reach out to a student directly if it finds an issue. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses this web-based system to maintain information on students with visas and schools certified to host exchange programs.
This university referred to Dougherty’s email in response to a request for comment.
A member of GLU is scheduled to meet and discuss the issues with Dougherty on Thursday, according to emails between the two parties reviewed by The Diamondback.
Bonin said GLU organized Monday’s protest because its members saw news on Saturday and Sunday that international students across the country were getting their student statuses revoked alongside their visas.
Multiple international students, scholars and others connected with American universities are fighting deportation because of their student advocacy, often protesting Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to the Associated Press.
Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage in its attack, according to the Associated Press. Israel’s military forces have since killed more than 50,000 Palestinians as of Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Immigration officials earlier this month arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal U.S. resident who was a negotiator between the university and pro-Palestinian protestors last year, the Associated Press reported.
[UMD GSG urges university to lower fees, administrative costs for international students]
President Donald Trump’s administration cited Khalil’s participation in the protests as a reason for revoking Khalil’s green card, saying his participation in the protests was antisemitic and indicated support for Hamas, according to the Associated Press.
But lawyers representing University of Alabama doctoral student Alireza Doroudi, who was arrested by immigration enforcement officers, said Doroudi did not participate in any campus protests, the Associated Press reported.
GLU organizer Rose Ying said international students across the country are not being warned that their status is being revoked.
“People are scared for their lives right now, and I just don’t think it’s acceptable to not have an avenue of communication to be able to answer questions and concerns from all students and [university] community members, but especially international students,” the cognitive science and neuroscience doctoral student said during GLU’s protest.
Other international students at this university, including Ismail Cosandal, said they were aware of the possibility of losing their visas since they got them.
In his fourth year, Cosandal, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student, said threats to student status have created more uncertainty for his future.
“I want to finish my degree,” Cosandal said. “I’m really concerned.”
