Here is the rewritten content in English:
When I first arrived in the United States to study, the terrifying possibility of deportation was the furthest thing from my mind. As a British citizen—someone from the "First World"—I assumed I was shielded by the so-called "special relationship" between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Deportation, I thought, was something that happened to asylum seekers from places like Mexico or Haiti, far removed from the snow-covered hills of Ithaca, New York, where I attend Cornell University. Or so I believed.
In January, while I was teaching a class on African American literature, I received a text message that made me anxiously glance out the window, scanning the street below for any sign of danger. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had been spotted conducting raids in downtown Ithaca. I had every reason to be concerned: the day before, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order calling for the deportation of foreign students like me who had faced disciplinary action for activism related to Palestine. The order required universities to monitor and report activities of foreign students and staff and instructed the Secretary of Education to compile a list of court and disciplinary cases involving alleged anti-Semitism on campuses.
Mischaracterizing the anti-war protests that swept across U.S. campuses last year, Trump was quoted in a White House fact sheet saying, "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you." These words have now become reality. On Saturday night, ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student who led the encampment at Columbia University, and transferred him to a detention facility in Louisiana—over a thousand miles away from his heavily pregnant wife, who remains in New York City. His green card status offered him no protection.
By taking unprecedented steps to punish students for peaceful activism against Israel’s war in Gaza, universities have paved the way for Trump’s executive order and the ensuing raids. These institutions now face a critical choice: comply with the order and become complicit in the crackdown on dissent, or stand up to Trump and his enablers, protect their students, and uphold their stated values of free expression. Universities must decide whether they support the First Amendment or oppose it.
I was suspended in September 2024 following a student-led takeover of a career fair featuring companies like Boeing and L3Harris—both of which supply weapons to Israel, described by leading human rights groups as being used in a genocide against the Palestinian population. Around 100 students participated in the protest, many of whom had been involved in previous actions, including a major encampment and the occupation of academic buildings. In an unprecedented move, Cornell singled out 15 of us for suspension—primarily Black, Muslim, Arab, and Jewish students. Four of us are international students and could face deportation. Bianca Waked, a Canadian Arab student suspended in April 2024 for leading a campus protest encampment, also shares this grim prospect.
Although there was no suggestion that my actions were anti-Semitic or violent during my disciplinary proceedings, I was banished from campus, barred from the library and my academic department. Living in private campus housing, I was effectively placed under house arrest for a month until my suspension was lifted. All of this for taking a stand against the senseless destruction of innocent lives.
Still, I consider myself one of the luckier ones. Four students were arrested by campus police for shoving and resisting officers; three of their charges were either dropped or will be dismissed pending a period without further incidents. At least one student was evicted from campus housing, while others were prevented from attending Shabbat services or Muslim prayers on campus. In one high-profile case, Momodou Taal, a fellow British student, was suspended and threatened with deportation.
Experts have warned that the Trump administration is using Gaza protests as a tool to wage a broader "war on woke" against progressive thought at U.S. universities. By punishing us in this way, Cornell and other institutions have opened the door for Trump’s authoritarian agenda to run rampant.
These suspensions are deeply embarrassing for a university that prides itself on its history of free expression and student activism. Ironically, while punishing us for disrupting a career fair, Cornell continues to celebrate its progressive legacy, including the 1969 Willard Straight Hall takeover, where Black students occupied the campus to protest institutional racism. On that occasion, Cornell met some of the students’ demands and established the first Africana Studies department in the U.S.
The extent of censorship at Cornell became a public embarrassment on February 3 during a keynote lecture by renowned activist and academic Angela Davis. Introduced by Marla Love, a senior Black administrator and the dean overseeing the department that handed down my suspension, Davis spoke about confronting modern injustices. However, she deviated from the script, saying, "I understand that there are those who cannot attend this evening because they have been banished from this community for their efforts to criticize the anti-democratic forces of the State of Israel." During the Q&A, a student revealed that the university had barred questions about Palestine or censorship on campus—but they asked them anyway.
While Davis’s talk provided a morale boost to student activists, it did little to alleviate the threat of deportation looming over us. Cornell must assure us that it will not collaborate with immigration authorities to remove us. Suppressing legitimate protest and dissent will achieve nothing, as Columbia University has already discovered. Last week, the Trump administration withdrew $400 million in federal grants from Columbia for allegedly failing to address anti-Semitism and "illegal protests." This followed the university’s decision to call in the NYPD to dismantle a pro-Palestine student encampment in late April 2024, a move that resulted in over 100 arrests and numerous injuries.
None of this is surprising because, as the Childish Gambino song suggests, "this is America"—a country steeped in systemic racial violence and overbearing law enforcement. As non-citizen Black Muslims, Taal and I find ourselves at the intersection of America’s deep-seated anti-Blackness, post-9/11 Islamophobia, and resurgent xenophobia. Unless Cornell takes a firm stand, it’s unclear whether our British passports will protect us.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Let me know if you’d like further adjustments!
Stay updated with the latest news by visiting our trusted sources: ZTC News and Z News Today. Explore in-depth coverage and breaking stories on these platforms!