Trump is revoking visas. Students, post-grads in Seattle worry they'll be targeted for supporting Gaza

The federal government has revoked visas for a number of students and post-grads at Seattle University and the University of Washington.

It’s not yet clear why, but immigrants and pro-Gaza activists who were involved in campus protests last year wonder if they’ll be targeted next.

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At Toasted, a bagel cafe in the University District, there was a line out the door at 10 p.m. on a recent Wednesday during Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast until dark. Jaafar Altameemi, the co-founder and CEO, took orders for bagels and lox, labneh and honey, and halva hot chocolate.

“This is probably the slowest night we've had since we started,” Altameemi said, laughing; he worked till 1:30 in the morning.

All the cafe’s profits from Ramadan hours, he said, went to help Palestinian students applying to study at UW.

“Once they come here, hopefully we'll be able to provide them with a little bit of their expenses paid,” Altameemi said.

UW agreed to waive tuition for 20 students as part of an agreement with pro-Gaza protesters last year, when they took down their encampment on campus. Whether those incoming Palestinian students will ever get here is a big question now.

The Trump administration has detained green-card holders and revoked the visas of legal residents who spoke out about Gaza. On Monday night, UW announced five students and four post-grad trainees had their visas revoked, and on Tuesday, Seattle University said three of its post-grads also had status revoked. There’s no indication this was related to activism or "protected free speech," according to a UW spokesperson.

RELATED: International students spoke out against the war in Gaza. Now, some face deportation

But the move has reverberated through Seattle’s immigrant community, particularly those who’ve criticized Israel’s war in Gaza. Eryne Walvekar, an immigration lawyer at Fisher Phillips, said she’s been telling her clients to make their social media accounts private or delete them – particularly if they have to travel out of the country.

“A lot of employers right now are just saying, overall, probably not a good idea to travel right now until things hopefully smooth over a little bit,” Walvekar said.

For those Palestinian students UW agreed to waive tuition for, Walvekar said she’d be concerned if any of them have been involved in political matters.

Talk about Gaza has been quieter, on- and off-campus – from international students and citizens. At least, that’s how it feels to Tariq Yusuf.

“I’ve seen a lot less posting on social media,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf graduated from UW a decade ago but went to the protests last year during an appearance by a right-wing group; he got shoved to the ground by a counter-protester in a video posted online.

“I have at least one police report [from] when I was assaulted there,” Yusuf said. “I imagine that that is something that will be looked up.”

Yusuf himself is a citizen.

“If I think about the people that I knew that were at a lot of the protests, a lot of them are citizens, but their parents aren't,” Yusuf said. “There’s now that extra worry of ‘how far are they exactly going to go?’”

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KUOW reached out to a number of visa and green-card holders who protested for Gaza, but none agreed to speak on the record. The Trump administration detainments have generated criticism even from the right wing, or supporters of Israel.

“You can't have a situation where the government just picks somebody up and packs him away and that's the last you hear of him,” said Paul Burstein, a UW professor-emeritus of sociology and Jewish Studies, who says he’s a Zionist.

Burstein said he does believe UW has failed to respond to anti-Semitism, something President Donald Trump also argues about many colleges. In a UW report released last fall, some Jewish students said they’d been targeted for supporting Israel.

“Among the things that were reported on were calls for Jews, not just Israeli Jews, to ‘go back to the gas chambers,’ ‘end Israel,’ and ‘kill your local colonizer,’” Burstein said.

In that same report, Jews who support Gaza also said they were harassed by Israel supporters, and a majority of Palestinian students said they felt they had to hide their identities.

RELATED: Has the U.S. revoked visas for UW or WSU students?

UW spokesperson Victor Balta said the university did suspend a student group, read criminal trespass warnings, and arrest one protester last year.

“Students have been referred for disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct,” Balta wrote. “Outcomes and sanctions related to the conduct process are confidential under [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act].”

The group suspended, Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return, or SUPER UW, called these moves “a clear attempt to suppress the mass support for Palestinian liberation on campus, and a common tactic of repression waged by imperialist institutions.”

It’s not clear whether any of the students whose visas got revoked this week were in any way connected to the protests last year.

“We are deeply concerned about the well-being of these students and graduates and are working to support them,” Balta wrote in a blog post. He also said legal services, mental health, and academic support are available to students.