International students in Alabama are afraid after the researcher without political ties

Tuscaloosa, ala. – Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani and his fiancé, Alireza Doroudi, had just spent an evening celebrating the New Year Persian at the University of Alabama when seven armed immigration agents came to their apartment before dawn and arrested Doroudi.

In a moment, the life of the young couple was turned upside down.

“I lived a normal life until night. After that, nothing is just normal,” said Bajgani.

Details of Doroudi’s detention have spread through the small Iranian community of Tuscaloosa, where Bajgani and Doroudi are doctoral students. Other Iranian students say that they were informally informed by teachers of “going to bed” and “being invisible” – instilling fear among a formerly dynamic cohort.

Doroudi is one of the United States students who have been detained in recent weeks in the depression of immigration by President Donald Trump. Bajgani said that the couple does not know why Doroudi – who has no criminal record or public political opinion – faces expulsion, adding that Trump’s recent visit had given him the impression that the university was “ignorant of our crisis”.

An Iranian civil engineering student and close friend of Doroudi said that he had lost more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) due to stress and depression in the six weeks that followed Doroudi’s detention.

“It is as if we all await our turn. It could be each time, each email could be expulsion,” said the student, who spoke under the cover of anonymity due to concerns about the loss of his legal status.

He now avoids unnecessary trips outside. When he was in a car accident last month, he begged the other driver not to call the police, even if he was not at fault, because he did not want to draw attention to himself.

‘I stayed with their permission’

Bajgani said that Doroudi, 32, is an ambitious mechanical engineering student in Shiraz, Iran.

He legally entered the United States in January 2023 on a student visa. Bajgani said that he often worked for 60 hours while taking the time to shop for dear beings.

“If someone like him does not arrive at the place he deserves, he has not called the American dream,” she said.

The Doroudi visa was revoked in June 2023, but the embassy did not provide reason and ignored its investigations, said Bajgani. The university told him that he could stay as long as he stayed a student, but that would not be allowed to reintegrate the United States if he had left, she said.

He operated under this direction when the immigration agents came to the couple’s door in March.

The University of Alabama has not commented on the case of Doroudi, but said that it offers resources to help immigrants on the campus to comply with federal law. It also offers advice to students whose visas are revoked.

“Our international students are appreciated members of our campus community,” said University spokesperson Monica Watts in a statement.

Doroudi told Bajgani that he had spent three days in a county prison, sleeping on a floor in tiles and feeling panicked.

He is now in an immigration detention center in Louisiana at more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) in Tuscaloosa while he is expecting an expulsion audience scheduled for next week. At least another high -level international student is there.

“I did not deserve this. If they had sent me a letter asking me to appear in court, I would have come, because I did nothing illegal. I stayed with their permission,” said Doroudi in a letter he dictated to Bajgani by phone to provide his point of view to others. “What was the reason to throw myself in prison?”

Trump’s immigration repression

More than 1,000 international students in the United States have revoked their visa or legal status since the end of March, according to a journal associated with the press of university declarations and correspondence with school officials. They understood some who protested the War of Israel in Gaza. Immigration and customs application have since reversed these revocations, including those of four students from the University of Alabama.

“University staff closely monitor the changes that could affect them and have communicated updates linked to new protocols and procedures,” said Watts.

A Louisiana judge who rejected Doroudi Bond in mid-April said that he had not proven enough that he was not a national security threat, David Rozas said David Rozas. Rozas said he was “stunned” because the government did not present proof that Doroudi is a threat, although this is what the Ministry of Internal Security alleged.

A feeling of familiar fear

International students represent more than 13% of the state’s higher education program of the University of Alabama, according to the school website. More than 100 Iranian students attend the university, according to an estimate of Iranian Student Association.

Each year, many meet for a picnic to celebrate Sizdah Bedar, the thirteenth day of the Persian New Year, which begins with spring.

This year, the typically festive holidays “looked like a funeral service,” said an Iranian doctoral student. At one point, silence fell on the group while a police car passed.

“It becomes too difficult to live here, to be yourself and to prosper,” said the student, who spoke under the guise of anonymity because she fears reprisals.

She has criticized the Iranian regime since his arrival in the United States over five years ago, so she suspects that she is no longer safe in her country of origin. Now she has these same doubts in Alabama.

“All of a sudden, it feels like returning to Iran in Iran,” she said.