Over the last few weeks, the Trump administration has continued to target student immigrants, detaining and threatening students and scholars from Tufts, Alabama University, Columbia, Cornell, and Georgetown – and these are just the ones that we know about.

In response, Debra Hauser, President of national youth activism nonprofit Advocates for Youth, issued the following statement:

“President Trump’s detentions of protesters on the basis of ideology is a threat to democracy. By illegally harassing and detaining these students, the Trump administration signals it will stop at nothing to silence dissent. 

Campus protests are at the heart of movements for peace and justice, and young people must be able to organize for the causes they believe in without jeopardizing their physical safety or immigration status. The Trump administration’s high-profile and highly-publicized arrest and deportation spree fuels rampant, dangerous anti-immigrant sentiment and exacerbates racist propaganda from the highest levels of government.

In this country and in every country, no one should face government retaliation, deportation or police violence because of their activism or beliefs. We must speak out against these ongoing illegal detentions.”