We invite you to join international students, scholars, employees, and allies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in calling for urgent, concrete action from the university’s Office of International Services (OIS) to protect the rights, safety, and legal standing of UIC’s international community.

This petition emerges from a deep concern over OIS’s inadequate response to intensifying threats facing international students and scholars—including the revocation of student visas, escalating ICE enforcement, and the alarming abductions of international scholars across the nation, such as Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Doğukan Günaydın, and Ranjani Srinivasan. These incidents have had a chilling effect on the international community, many of whom now live in fear for their physical safety, immigration status, and ability to continue their academic or professional work in the United States.

Although members of the international community initially shared this list of urgent recommendations with OIS in good faith and in hopes of collaboration, we received no response. This absence of engagement has further underscored the need for broader institutional accountability and public solidarity.

International students and scholars not only juggle the demands of academic and professional life but must also continuously navigate an ever-changing immigration system. The burdens of visa compliance, unclear legal policies, and constantly shifting federal mandates fall overwhelmingly on individuals, often in isolation. These burdens are compounded by systemic racial profiling and the absence of institutional mechanisms for emergency protection, legal support, and political expression. Many UIC faculty and staff remain unaware of these layered pressures, and OIS has failed to communicate effectively about the real risks international students face.

The international community urgently needs structural support and transparency from the university. Below are the specific actions we are calling for OIS to implement immediately:

1. Know Your Rights Training

We call on OIS to host a Know Your Rights training specifically designed for the international community. We must be equipped with knowledge of our legal rights to safeguard ourselves and our peers during potential encounters with ICE, both on and off campus. While OIS advises the international community to carry original or copies of their immigration documents “as a daily habit,” racially marginalized communities remain at heightened risk of being detained, and merely presenting documents may not always be sufficient to protect them from arrest/detainment.

An official Know Your Rights training and resources should provide clear legal guidance, risk mitigation strategies, and a directory of immigration lawyers and advocacy networks available to assist in case of detention. The international community needs more than generic reminders—they need direct, action-oriented resources that ensure safety.

2. Definition of Emergency and Access to Emergency Resources

Regardless of their legal status, racially minoritized individuals are being detained by ICE at an alarming rate. While OIS offers an emergency contact number for students detained at ports of entry or airports, this page fails to provide information about the appropriate protocol following detainment on the streets, in workplaces, in schools, or while traveling domestically. OIS must clearly define what constitutes an emergency and expand its emergency response framework to address scenarios beyond airport detentions. The relevant contact information for travel emergencies is also buried on the website, and multiple steps are currently required to access it. This information must be made easily accessible on the OIS website, ensuring that we can find it quickly to act upon our next steps.

 3. Expanded On-Call Advising

OIS must increase the availability of on-call advising through Zoom, phone, and in-person. As it stands, virtual drop-in advising sessions are only available on Fridays, and the international community can only make appointments 24 hours in advance. This system fails to account for emergencies or urgent immigration-related matters that require immediate attention. 

The international community cannot afford to wait for limited availability when faced with sudden legal or immigration complications, and OIS is our sole and primary contact. Especially in current circumstances, OIS must step up to meet our needs in real time.

4. Urgent Legal Preparedness for Politically Targeted International Students

In light of the increasingly volatile and overtly aggressive political climate, the international community faces a growing risk of legal consequences for exercising constitutionally protected rights, particularly freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. Instances of lawful political expression, advocacy, or dissent have sometimes been misconstrued as violations of immigration regulations, leading to disproportionate scrutiny, disciplinary action, or visa complications. We thus call upon the OIS to urgently implement preventative legal support that includes: 

• legal rights workshops (e.g., the above Know Your Right training) for the international community at UIC;
• regular briefings on legal risks aligned with policy changes with the examples of anonymized visa revocation cases at UIC;
• access to qualified immigration and civil rights counsel; and,
• systematic audits of institutional policies to prevent the inadvertent penalization of lawful expression. 

If these measures are currently under development, the OIS should provide timely updates to the international community to establish transparency, trust, and the assurance of protection they rightfully deserve.

✊ We Need Your Support ✊
By signing this petition, you are standing in solidarity with international students, employees, and scholars at UIC. You are helping to amplify a call for institutional responsibility and community protection. The undersigned are no longer willing to accept inaction or vague reassurances. We ask for your support in demanding concrete, immediate measures to uphold the safety, dignity, and legal security of our international peers.