NYU “will comply with the law” amid the Trump administration’s prospective crackdown on student visas, university spokesperson John Beckman said Monday. That same day, staff members at NYU Langone Health reported that the medical center warned employees against protecting undocumented patients from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
“This is a topic of great concern for NYU, and we know that recent announcements have raised anxieties among our community,” Beckman told WSN. “Of course, we will comply with the law.”
Staff at NYU Langone received a memo on Monday directing them to “not try to actively help a person avoid being found by ICE,” Crain’s New York Business reported. The publication added that language used in the memo was “beyond what other health systems and trade groups have issued,” and that other medical centers had focused their rhetoric on prioritizing patients’ privacy. It also referenced a Greater New York Hospitals Association statement that cautions medical staff of potential “persuasion and even intimidation.”
Beckman said that Campus Safety officers had been trained to only allow law enforcement officials like ICE on campus if they have a search warrant or subpoena. He also said NYU will not provide any personal information regarding a member of the community unless legally required to do so, and that in most cases, students will be notified of such a request.
The statement comes a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to “combat antisemitism” by revoking pro-Palestinian protesters’ student visas and ceasing demonstrations on college campuses, which he said “have been infested with radicalism like never before.” In a fact sheet detailing the order, Trump directed all federal governments, including the U.S. Department of Education, to use “all available and appropriate” legal tools to prosecute “perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence” and report any illegal activity including vandalism, intimidation and trespassing.
In an interview with WSN, CAS professor Sonya Posmentier — also a member of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors — said the university’s public accounts of protests have implied “threats of violence, without providing any evidence” and could be used to implicate students for their involvement in demonstrations. Posmentier, who was arrested at a protest outside of Bobst Library in December, added that this concern has intensified following Trump’s executive order, which she also called a violation of the First Amendment.
“He uses this really overblown rhetoric to describe campus protests that bear no resemblance to what we’ve actually seen,” Posmentier said. “There should be no distinction when it comes to citizens and non-citizens on a university campus.”
Posmentier also said students and faculty are concerned that NYU leadership has not released a statement explicitly promising to protect international students. She said that while students were made aware of university resources — such as its Immigrant Rights Clinic — during the last Trump administration, she was “not confident” that NYU President Linda Mills would do the same.
In his statement to WSN, Beckman said NYU would continue to offer listening sessions, support groups and counseling services to concerned students and faculty. He also said community members could use the university’s Office of Global Services for questions about their visas and the Immigrant Defense Initiative for legal services. In a universitywide email shortly after Trump’s reelection, Dean of Students Rafael Rodriguez and Senior Vice President of Student Life Jason Pina said NYU had bolstered its resources for international students and that border mobility for students and scholars would be “of critical importance.”
“We will uphold our values in supporting the NYU community that draws from all walks of life,” Beckman said. “We will continue to reach out to our community with critical support and services.”
Last week, NYU AAUP released a report detailing a “special relationship” between Mills and an NYU parent who founded the Facebook group, Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism. The parent has repeatedly pressured Mills to deport “foreign students and faculty that support Hamas” using financial threats and intimidation. Beckman had told WSN that reports of the communications “implies connections and influence that simply aren’t present.”
Faculty have iterated concern regarding data privacy and security. Posmentier cited instances of security footage being used in disciplinary proceedings and Paula Chakravartty, a Steinhardt professor and vice president of NYU AAUP, told WSN that faculty members are left in the dark about how the university is handling personal data. During its most recent bargaining session, NYU’s contract faculty union also called for more clarity regarding the university’s handling of individual files.
“We need much more transparency from the university administration about what they plan to do with their data,” Chakravartty said. “We’re very concerned about what happens with the data and we hope that NYU follows state laws.”
NYU hosts more international students than any other U.S. university, with the group accounting for 44% of the university’s total enrollment last academic year. During Trump’s first term, the School of Law founded the university’s Immigration Defense Initiative to help members of the university to complete immigration-related procedures and offer legal representation.
“International students are rightly worried — as are international faculty and staff — that administration is cozying up with groups that are xenophobic and Islamophobic and anti-immigrant groups,” Chakravartty said. “This has left students feeling very vulnerable.”
Contact Amanda Chen at [email protected].
