Campus crackdown on pro-Palestine solidarity fuels anti-migrant push

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Truthout
3 Nov 2025 19:47
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Repression of pro-Palestine activism on US campuses has enabled broader attacks on migrants, faculty, and students.

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Protesters gather in support of Palestinians across the street from the main gates of Columbia University, May 21, 2025, in New York (AP)

Photos of student encampments demanding solidarity with Palestine have largely disappeared from headlines. In their place are images of immigration agents detaining university students and community members. Yet, October Krausch writes for Truthout, the battle on campus to push universities to divest from "Israel" and weapons manufacturers remains active.

Speaking with the online magazine, Akin Olla, communications director for Dissenters, a youth-led anti-militarist organization, said the push to divest is a long-term smoldering battle, stating, “The campuses are definitely as active as they were a year ago from my purview ... The actions look different and are generally less media-friendly.”

Krausch says this evolving struggle has taken on new dimensions, particularly as students involved in pro-Palestine activism, many of whom are Muslim immigrants, international students, or others of a disinfranchized community, face overlapping threats from the Trump administration.

In response, Krausch writes, campus-based groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Muslim student associations are working in broader coalitions to shield vulnerable students.

Trump administration escalates attacks on immigrant students

Since Donald Trump took office in January 2025, campus communities have faced a series of immigration-related crackdowns. Krausch highlights that in March, students like Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, both holding legal residency or student visas, were kidnapped by immigration agents in apparent retaliation for their pro-Palestine stance.

These events coincided with the revocation of over 6,000 student visas, most unrelated to activism. Later, the administration slashed visa issuance, causing a sharp decline in international student enrollment, followed by a controversial executive order that appeared to levy a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa holders traveling abroad. The chilling effect on faculty and students has been widespread.

Jenna Loyd, co-founder of the Sanctuary Campus Network, sees a broader logic at play.

“The goal is to attack the whole idea of universities being international spaces," she says.

Faculty, students build networks of resistance

Krausch writes that despite university mission statements celebrating diversity and inclusion, institutional support has been largely symbolic. Faculty, students, and community allies have stepped in to create alternative systems of protection.

The Truthout writer notes the Sanctuary Campus Network, launched in late 2024, has grown into a national structure supporting faculty organizing against campus repression and immigration enforcement. The group holds monthly Zoom trainings and collaborates with organizations like Palestine Legal and Muslims for Just Futures. One of its key initiatives has been adapting immigration-focused Know Your Rights materials for campus use.

Members have also distributed signage to help faculty mark classrooms and offices as private spaces, signaling safe areas for students in case of immigration raids.

Regional chapters meet regularly, Krausch says, offering faculty a chance to share tactics and build community. Rachel Ida Buff, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Sanctuary Campus organizer, says the regional meetings have been "really, really useful," adding that they allow faculty to console one another, share tactics, and build a relationship with each other.

Challenging university compliance with state crackdowns

The repression of pro-Palestine activism has intersected with broader attacks on immigrant rights, academic freedom, and diversity initiatives, the Truthout writer notes. While right-wing narratives paint universities as left-wing strongholds, the reality on many campuses is one of institutional compliance and silence.

Laura, a political theorist at a small liberal arts college who asked to remain anonymous, says she faced dismissal for organizing high-profile Palestine-related events. Laura states that faculty have an "easy posture of learned helplessness" surrounding difficult issues and claims that the university is not a political space. "It's racism masked by civility politics,” she says.

At the University of Central Florida, faculty union president Talat Rahman acknowledges the difficulty of organizing in such a climate, stating that there's a lot of fear on campus, but "people can only be afraid for so long. At some point, you have to live with your own conscience.”

Organizing for Palestine amid academic, political pressures

Faculty say that the repression of Palestine activism under multiple US administrations laid the groundwork for today’s anti-immigrant policies and attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Despite this, faculty are building new forms of resistance, Krausch writes; many are reluctant to lead student campaigns directly to avoid disempowering them.

Dana Morrison of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at West Chester University explained, “If we were to define the campaign, name the target, and all that kind of stuff, we’d be taking up space in terms of how we teach students.” Instead, her group focused on a divestment campaign within their labor union.

Krausch says some faculty are pressing their professional associations to take a pro-Palestine stance. Others are working alongside community groups to ensure continuity.

At North Carolina State University, the local chapter of Dissenters now includes off-campus members. Chelsey Dyer, assistant teaching professor of anthropology and the group’s faculty adviser, said this structure allows faculty to show up more as “peer activists” than mentors.

Buff, too, described how campus sanctuary efforts in Milwaukee were strengthened by ties to long-standing immigrant organizing. She added that she herself draws strength from fellow activists, more so than from “often-fearful faculty colleagues.”

Sustaining long-term struggles through turnover and solidarity

One of the greatest challenges of student activism is leadership turnover, Krausch notes. Faculty who remain longer are developing strategies for continuity that support but don’t overshadow student agency.

The Coalition for Action in Higher Ed (CAHE), which organized the National Day of Action for Higher Education on April 17, 2025, is one such initiative. The day featured actions on campuses nationwide and a full day of online programming. CAHE is now transitioning into a more permanent organization and is already planning for April 17, 2026.

Morrison noted that many students at regional public campuses like hers work off-campus or live far away, leading to lower engagement. “How do you [participate in coordinated national events] if on your own campus, nobody has even uttered a political thing in the public space?”

A. Naomi Paik, co-founding member of Sanctuary Campus Network, observed that even some faculty are new to activism. The network, alongside the American Association of University Professors, offers regular training to help faculty learn organizing skills.

Mullen pointed to a key challenge: “Overcoming hopelessness is a crucial organizing problem.”

But by building national and regional networks, Krausch says faculty and students are trying to create the infrastructure necessary for long-term campaigns in support of a free Palestine, and in defense of academic freedom.