Tuscaloosa, wing. – Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani and his fiance, Alireza Doroudi, had just spent one night celebrating the Persian New Year at the University of Alabama, when seven armed immigration officers arrived at their department before dawn and arrested Doroudi.
In a moment, the life of the young couple overturned.
“I was living a normal life until that night. After that, nothing is simply normal,” Bajani said.
The details about the detention of Doroudi extend through the small Iranian community in Tuscaloosa, where Bajgani and Doroudi are doctoral students. Other Iranian students say that teachers have advised them informally that “they were low” and “being invisible”, instilling fear between a cohort once vibrant.
Doroudi is among the students of the United States that have been arrested in recent weeks as part of the repression of immigration of President Donald Trump. Bajangani said that the couple does not know why Doroudi, that he has no criminal record or public policies, faces deportation, added that Trump’s recent visit to school made her feel that the university was “ignorant of our crisis.”
An Iranian civil engineering student and a close friend from Doroudi said he has lost more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) due to stress and depression in six weeks since Doroudi was arrested.
“It’s as if we were all waiting for our turn. It could be every blow, each email could be deportation,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns about losing his legal status.
Now avoid unnecessary trips outside. When he was in a car accident last month, he begged the other driver to call the police, even though he was not to blame, because he did not want to attract attention to himself.
‘I stayed with his permission’
Bajgani said that Doroudi, 32, is an ambitious mechanical engineering student at Shiraz, Iran.
He entered the United States legally in January 2023 with a student visa. Bajgani said he often worked for 60 hours in weeks while it was still time to make mandates for his loved ones.
“If someone like him does not come to the place he deserves, there is nothing called the American dream,” he said.
Doroudi’s visa was revoked in June 2023, but the embassy did not provide a reason and ignored his investigations, Bajgani said. The university told him that he could stay as he remained a student, but that would not be allowed to re -enter the United States if he left, he said.
He was operating under that guide when immigration officers reached the couple’s door in March.
The University of Alabama did not comment on the case of Doroudi, but said it offers resources to help immigrants on the campus to comply with the Federal Law. It also offers guidance to students whose visas are revoked.
“Our international students are valued members of our campus community,” said University spokeswoman Monica Watts, in a statement.
Doroudi told Bajgani that he spent three days in a county jail, sleeping in a tile floor and panic.
It is now in a Louisiana immigration detention center to more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from Tuscaloosa while waiting for a deportation audience scheduled for next week. At least another high -profile international student is there.
“I did not deserve this. If they had just sent me a letter asking me to appear in the court, I would have come, because I did nothing illegal. I stayed with his permission,” Doroudi said in a letter that gave Bajani on the phone to provide his perspective to others. “What was the reason to throw me in jail?”
Trump’s immigration repression
More than 1,000 international students throughout the United States have revoked their visas or legal status since the end of March, according to a review of Associated Press of university statements and correspondence with school officials. They included some who protested the Israel War in Gaza. Since then, the application of immigration and customs has reversed these revocations, including those of four students from the University of Alabama.
“The university staff closely monitors the changes that could affect them and have communicated updates related to new protocols and procedures,” Watts said.
A Louisiana judge who denied Doroudi Bond in mid -April said he did not demonstrate enough that it was not a national security threat, said Doroudi’s lawyer David Rozas. Ronas said he was “great” because the government has not presented evidence that Doroudi is a threat, although that is what the Department of National Security has alleged.
A family sense of fear
International students represent more than 13% of the postgraduate program at the University of Alabama throughout the State, according to the school’s website. More than 100 Iranian students attend the University, according to an estimate of the Iranian Student Association.
Every year, many meet for a picnic to celebrate Sizdah Bedar, the fifteenth Persian New Year, which begins with spring.
This year, typically festive vacations “felt like a funeral service,” said an Iranian doctoral student. At one point, silence fell on the group when a police car passed.
“It is becoming too difficult to live here, be yourself and prosper,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals.
She has criticized the Iranian regime since she arrived in the United States more than five years ago, so she suspects she is no longer safe in her country of origin. Now, she has those same doubts in Alabama.
“Suddenly, it seems that we will go back to Iran again,” he said.
