On Thursday, a protest led by the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition began in front of the Indiana University Sample Gates to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, following IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s revelation that several IU international students’ visas had been revoked. When a student’s visa is revoked, it means they have lost their legal status in the United States and could be subject to deportation.
“Yesterday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the visas for several IU graduate workers and fellow IGWC members,” the group said in an Instagram post the night before.
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“I can confirm that is happening here,” Shrivastav said earlier this week at a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting, according to the Indiana Daily Student, referring to the revocation of student visas. “It is ongoing. It is no different than what’s happening in other institutions.”
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Shrivastav, however, added that the number was “small relative to some other institutions.”
The IGWC listed several demands to IU in response, including that they “ensure the safety of those impacted by providing emergency academic leave, as well as publicly… [communicate] how these students can complete their degrees.”
Protestors at the event were heard singing Solidarity Forever and shouting “Who runs IU? We run IU!” as well as “Abolish ICE.”