Just under a year ago, philosophy student Sohrab Ford enthusiastically took part in every student protest — especially those against tuition hikes and in support of Gaza. Now he’s decided to be more cautious, especially when expressing his views and identity.

“I’ve just seen myself go more into this shell,” Ford said. “I want to be an SFSU student, and a trans person, and a white person, and an Iranian person, and I want to share all of those different aspects of myself. But in certain situations, it feels like it’s only safe to share certain parts of those identities.”

Ford’s fears are a consequence of new federal policies introduced since Donald Trump began his second term as president. Since then, Trump has ordered changes to fundamental systems of national operations, including the possibility of eliminating the Department of Education and reforming Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many of these changes have sparked fear among students, as well as migrant and minority communities, causing people to change their behaviors.Desiree Prado, a political science and criminal justice student, said there is rampant fear in her community in Galt, which she described as predominantly Latine.

“When I’m home, you can kind of just feel the tension a little bit,” Prado said. “There’s conversations happening in my family, conversations happening in the greater community — What are we going to do if something happens?”

Nicholas Panameno, a sophomore design student, said his parents, who are from El Salvador and Nicaragua, have changed their routines out of fear of deportation or detention.

“We have been online shopping a little bit more recently,” Panameno said. “I’ve noticed that they have not been going out too often.”

The general fear follows the detention and deportation of thousands of migrants and the complete reform of ICE. Part of Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns involved promises to be stricter on the U.S.–Mexico border and eliminating birthright citizenship. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 32,809 people were detained in the first 50 days of his second term. 

An undocumented student at SFSU, who requested anonymity due to fear of deportation, spoke of how Trump’s policies have prohibited them from participating in school events such as protests on campus or academic conferences in different states.

“Trump has managed to find a way to destroy higher education for undocumented students and I think that’s one of the most heartbreaking things,” they said. “Knowing I can’t even travel like that has been hard. Not only are you cutting students off from very normal experiences, but it is an attack on intellectualism and that development, whether it’s professional, personal, academic.”

The student described themself as “a very vocal person” who enjoys going to protests and showing their solidarity with other groups, like the General Union of Palestine Students of SFSU. At a recent protest, the student questioned whether or not they should be showing support given their status.

“Now it’s like, not only am I targeted, but now they’re also targeted,” the student said. “Knowing that solidarity is not only limited, but you’re having to mold your solidarity. I stand with you but I can’t be there physically, so it just makes me reassess my values and what I’m willing to lose or gain.”

Ford referred to his student activism against the California State University system’s tuition hikes and how student protests have changed under the current Trump administration.

“When we were doing work around the tuition increase, people weren’t really scared if they spoke out against the tuition increase that they would not be able to graduate from SF State,” Ford said, referencing attacks on free speech on college campuses. “The possibility of repression has always existed. But yeah, right now it’s far more in our face.”

According to a press release from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have revoked over 300 international student visas. Additionally, students at various university campuses — such as Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk and Yunseo Chung — who are legal residents or hold student visas, have been detained by ICE and DHS for their student activism. These revocations and detentions have raised uncertainty about the future of First Amendment rights across the country.

José Martínez, a fourth-year political science student, emphasized the importance of student activism in his life and being connected with on-campus organizations. Martínez is a member of the political science division of the SFSU Student Union and goes to protests on campus as often as he can. 

“Stagnation is not the answer. Pretending that everything is fine is not gonna be the answer,” Martínez said. “It’s from my friends and colleagues that I find myself motivated. Also, not only for me, but also for those that will proceed after me.”

Martínez also commented on how quickly political systems are changing in the U.S. Since his inauguration, Trump has signed 151 executive orders, according to the Federal Register, compared to the 162 that Biden signed throughout his entire presidency, according to Ballotpedia.

“This new administration is more aggressive, more swift in terms of mobilization,” Martínez said. 

In late January, shortly after Trump’s inauguration, there were false rumors that an ICE agent visited the administration building at SFSU, which personally affected Panameno. 

“I heard that some lady went to the administration building to ask someone, ‘Do you guys still have the student in the school?’” Panameno said. “When I was entering my class, my professor was like, ‘Hey guys, so this happened. If you need to go, go, I will not hold you back for this class.’ And I was like, ‘This is crazy.’”

The anonymous student spoke of how there has been a lack of recognition of the attacks on migrant rights from their professors and SFSU’s administration.

“The biggest challenge has been being expected to sit in a classroom and go about the semester in a totally normal way when you know your community’s being targeted,” they said. “I had professors not even acknowledge the political climate and everything that’s happening.”

The student is a member of I.D.E.A.S., a student organization that supports undocumented students. The organization has also had to be more cautious of the way it presents itself.

“We’ve had to take a step back for safety reasons, but a lot of it has turned into no longer announcing things on social media,” they said. “It has to be word of mouth just to make sure that it’s just allies or people that we know, which cuts off a bunch of people. But I think those are just safety measures.”

Prado, who works with Project Rebound — a program that supports formerly incarcerated individuals — spoke about the importance of educating communities on these issues through personal interactions. Prado visits incarcerated individuals in prisons as part of her job at Project Rebound and found that her family members were concerned until she explained why she does it.

“We have a better chance at getting through to them than the media does because we have those personal connections,” Prado said. “After teaching them [my family] about what it is that I’m trying to do and the mission of the work that we do and the need and the problems, I’ve been able to change their mind on things because I’m directly involved in this work and I feel very passionate towards it.”

Ford agreed that ultimately, our humanity is what connects the community and gives people a  chance to reach others.

“I feel like there has to be a way to humanize everyone with all of our differences,” Ford said. “If we all have the same common aims, I don’t understand why we haven’t flipped the switch and actually want to start working together towards these goals rather than working against each other.”