Nearly a hundred students and community members protested the federal government's termination of University of Wisconsin-Madison student visas and alumni visa employment extensions in a protest on Library Mall Saturday, urging the university to do more to protect its students.
The protest, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), protested the federal government's termination of UW-Madison student visas and alumni visa employment extensions. The visas of at least 40 students across the UW System, including 26 current and former UW-Madison students, have been removed. While the university said they have no reason to believe these revocations happened as a result of “free speech events,” many students expressed concern due to the context of wider threats to international students.
Since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, some international students have been detained and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for participation in pro-Palestine protests, with the Trump administration vowing further crackdowns.
“[The Trump administration] is normalising violent deportations [and] targeting those daring to speak out against oppression, destroying lives in the process,” PSL member Daniel Garces said Saturday to the crowd. “This is an attack on the principles of academic freedom, free speech and human dignity. Students have the right to protest against genocide and aparteid.”
Organizers handed out free informational booklets that provided legal resources and warrant requirements. In chants, demonstrators condemned Trump, Democrats, Republicans and Israel, with many attendees calling on the university to do more to resist the federal government's actions.
In a speech to demonstrators, UW-Madison alum Marie Cuccia said this issue was a moral one and said UW-Madison’s neutrality on the issue is complicity.
“As an alum, I am ashamed that my university has stood by and watched while 26 students had their lives upended,” Cuccia said.
UW-Madison International Student Services has reached out to the individuals to provide resources and advise them about potential consequences, the university said April 7.
Protest organizer and PSL member Robert Penner told The Daily Cardinal the demonstration’s intent was to convey the urgency of organizing to “maneuver” around state officials. Penner stressed the responsibility to put an end to “this rotten system” and “the massive inhumanities.”
Tudor Belean, a UW-Madison student and member of PSL, told the crowd the terminations were “increasingly fascist-like” and said the revocations were happening for seemingly arbitrary reasons to stoke fear and shut down dissent.
Cuccia highlighted the importance of attending protests to show dissatisfaction with the government.
“Show up because silence is complicity, inaction is cowardice and justice delayed is justice denied,” Cuccia said.
Editor's Note: This article was updated at 2:20 p.m. April 15, 2025 to reflect Marie Cuccia’s quote that students had their lives “upended,” not ended, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation is PSL, not SLP.
