WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 11th, 2025 - The College Democrats of America unequivocally condemn the growing wave of student visa revocations under the Trump administration as an alarming, authoritarian overreach aimed at silencing political dissent and undermining civil liberties on U.S. campuses. According to recent reports, the Department of Homeland Security has formed a dedicated task force to scour the social media accounts of over 1.5 million international students studying in the United States. This mass surveillance operation-conducted with opaque criteria and without meaningful oversight, has already resulted in a spike in visa revocations. Students are being deported not for crimes or credible threats, but for engaging in constitutionally protected speech, including peaceful protest and political expression.

Let us be abundantly clear: this is not about national security. This is about control. This is about fear. And it is part of a larger pattern by President Trump's administration to weaponize the machinery of the state against young people, immigrants, and political dissidents.

We've seen this before. We've seen this before. In his first term, Donald Trump built a legacy of cruelty toward immigrants, from the Muslim Ban to family separation. Now, in his second term, he is escalating that legacy by turning student visas into tools of ideological enforcement. This isn't just an attack on international students; it's an attack on academic freedom, freedom of speech, and the idea that the United States can be a home for principled debate and disagreement.

Many of these students are living far from home, studying under immense financial and emotional strain, and participating in the same democratic discourse that defines college campuses across the country. Now they are being told that sharing a political opinion, particularly if it is critical of U.S. foreign policy, could be grounds for deportation.College Democrats across the nation are proud to stand with our international peers, many of whom are facing surveillance, intimidation, and life-altering consequences for nothing more than speaking their minds. We call on Congress to demand transparency from DHS and to investigate the legality and ethical violations of this task force. We demand that university presidents speak out publicly and unequivocally against the revocation of visas based on protected speech. And we urge every student, faculty member, and administrator to reject this creeping authoritarianism for what it is: a betrayal of democratic values.

Dissent is not a crime. Political expression is not a threat. And international students are not pawns in the Trump administration's effort to remake America into a country that punishes thought and censors opposition. This is not just about immigration policy. This is about who gets to speak, who gets to stay, and who gets to belong. And College Democrats will never stop fighting for a democracy where every student, no matter where they're from, has the right to learn, protest, and be heard.

College Democrats of America is the official student arm of the Democratic National Committee.

We strive to advocate for Democratic values on college campuses across

the country. We provide the necessary tools to both give college students a voice in the

political process and to amplify the voice of the next generation of progressive

activists. We are passionate college students dedicated to electing Democrats up and

down the ballot through positive messaging, campaigning, and activism.