Mahmoud Khalil, the first notable case of the Trump administration using forced disappearances to crack down criticism of Israel, took a leading role in last year's campus protests; Runeysa Ozturk, detained Wednesday, once co-authored an op-ed advocating for "the equal dignity and humanity" of Palestinians. But it's not known if Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian-born doctoral student at the University of Alabama who was seized by ICE agents Tuesday morning, had anything to do with pro-Palestine activism at all.
Nevertheless, his arrest and detention follows a familiar pattern of the federal government targeting noncitizens in higher education, particularly those of Middle Eastern descent.
