Faculty and classmates are stepping up to protect the close to 1,400 foreign students who have had their names taken off the international tracking system by the Trump administration, including new safety measures on campus as well as coordinated legal efforts.

Campus communities have created buddy systems for international students, started GoFundMe pages for those arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and held seminars so students know their rights and what to do if approached by federal officials.

Americans “are concerned about the attacks on immigrant students and non-citizen students," said Zainab Chaudry, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Maryland. "And so, there has been a very real desire to want to try to take whatever efforts are possible to protect those students from being targeted."

Multiple faculty groups, including at Cornell University and the University of Maryland, have initiated GoFundMe campaigns for students who need help paying for legal services after being targeted by ICE.

The Association of International Educators, or NAFSA, said that as of April 18 the number of foreign students whose records have been terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) has grown to 1,400, jumping from 800 recorded on April 10. SEVIS termination does not automatically affect legal status, but removal from it has often preceded visa revocations under the Trump........

© The Hill