With the price of eggs up, a tariff and government-cut induced recession in the wind and a growing chorus of resistance from spurned allies, the Trump administration has implemented a classic diversion tactic, announcing the start of a campaign of graduate deportations.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born graduate student at Colombia University, attracted headlines across the US yesterday as the first student activist to be arrested and threatened with deportation for their role in pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Mr Khalil was arrested at his university accommodation in Manhattan on the weekend for ‘leading activities aligned to Hamas’ and detained in Louisiana. He is a permanent resident of the US and formal charges have yet to be laid.
Mr Trump’s administration last week revoked $US400m in Federal Grants to Columbia, on the basis of failing to fight antisemitism on campus, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
President Trump has vowed to deport terrorist sympathisers ‘never to return again’ (Hamas is recognised as a terrorist organisation in the US).
The funding cut for universities like Colombia and arrest of activists like Mr Khalil has been telegraphed for some time, and will play well with significant numbers of Trump supporters.
The timing of the funding cut and arrests is useful for the President’s media agenda – demonstrating action at a time when other crash-or-crash-through policies have the potential to raise concerns. After vowing to cut egg prices on day one of his second administration, egg prices have continued to rise, due to major bird flu outbreaks, inflation is on the rise; and tariffs slated for April will push up the prices of essentials for US households immediately.
What it means for freedom of speech, institutional sustainability and international student mobility both here and in the US remains to be seen, but appears important to follow.
With the price of eggs up, a tariff and government-cut induced recession in the wind and a growing chorus of resistance from spurned allies, the Trump administration has implemented a classic diversion tactic, announcing the start of a campaign of graduate deportations.
