Johns Hopkins University community members are rallying to protect students against immigration enforcement after school leaders announced earlier this week that around a dozen had their visas revoked.
In an emailed statement, a university spokesperson told WYPR that approximately 12 Johns Hopkins graduate students and recent graduates now have to leave the country. The university “received no information about the specific basis” for the visa cancellations, the statement read, and there is “no indication that the revocations are associated with free expression activities on campus.”
This comes amid a series of arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting Pro-Palestine students and professors nationwide. At least five international students at the University of Maryland’s College Park and Baltimore County campuses also had their visas revoked.
Before the visa cancellations, Hopkins students rallied last week to protest a memo emailed out by university leaders telling faculty to not interfere in ICE action on campus.
A university spokesperson said in an email that the policies in the memo — which advise faculty to contact public safety or legal counsel if an ICE officer tries to enter a building — are meant to prioritize protection. That’s “similar to guidance from multiple other U.S. universities and from national organizations that advocate for immigrants’ rights and free expression,” the spokesperson wrote.
Students, alumni and local residents are taking matters into their own hands to demand more. Sonia Shah has been a neighbor of Hopkins since 2008.
“And so when I read in the paper about Hopkins' policy of complying with ICE and DHS, that really struck me,” she told WYPR.
Shah drafted a letter to Michael Bloomberg, one of the university’s biggest donors, urging him to pressure school leaders into doing more. It’s collected over 250 signatures.
“When we drafted this letter, the risk to local community members was theoretical,” Shah said. “But now, students are having their visas revoked and we don't know why, and we don't know what the next steps are for those students, and without the institution firmly behind them, they are extremely vulnerable.”
Shah said she understands Hopkins’ leaders wanting to protect their staff from federal backlash.
“But we don't obey in advance; we don't comply right off the bat,” she said. “We're looking for a much more forceful defense of students and community members rights. Why don't we raise funds for legal defense, for any staff who might or faculty who might get implicated?”
That’s exactly what Teachers and Researchers United, Hopkins’ graduate student union, is doing. Stephen Schmidt, a third year PhD student and the union’s communications chair, said the group voted on April 1 to use a portion of their membership dues as an emergency fund for students affected by ICE.
“Our organizing is ultimately the thing that keeps us safe,” Schmidt said, “in a way that the wishy-washy nature of the university, in terms of complying or claiming they might not or changing their mind, is not able to.”
Schmidt said no students have reached out for help yet. But the union is still ironing out the details of how to use their funds, while pressuring university leaders to take a stronger stance.
“I think that this is in line with a lot of trends that are present with the university, where they are more than willing to throw graduate workers and students under the bus in favor of profit and maintaining their funding,” Schmidt said. “So this is not surprising to us, but it is still disappointing.”
Juliana Paré-Blagoev is an associate professor at Hopkins’ school of education and president of Hopkins’ chapter of the American Association of University Professors. She’s one of many professors who signed Shah’s letter to Bloomberg.
Paré-Blagoev attended the New College of Florida as an undergraduate student before Republican Governor Ron DeSantis took over, appointing right-wing activists to the board of trustees and abolishing its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“So I've seen this playbook before, where an administration — in this case the Trump regime — comes in and tries to stoke fear,” she said. “None of these types of attacks on our fundamental freedoms are going to be met by any one organization.”
Paré-Blagoev said it’s going to take a “broad coalition” of community organizers and higher education institutions, including Hopkins, to protect students and push for change.
“An independent Hopkins is a strong Hopkins,” she said. “A Hopkins that accepts a short leash is a danger to its own institution as well as to the people around it.”
Editors' Note: This story has been updated to include statements from a Hopkins university spokesperson.
