A congressional delegation traveled to Louisiana on Tuesday to visit with detained international students. 

The Democratic lawmakers visited Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University doctoral student, and Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident and Columbia University graduate student. The students were detained under a seldom-used provision that allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens they deem a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

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Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Troy Carter (D-LA), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS) made the trip, during which they held a news conference outside the federal detention center.

“I really worry that this administration is ushering in a new era of McCarthyism. And unless Congress and unless the American people stand up and push back, they will succeed,” McGovern said.

Carter led the Democratic delegation, which traveled to Jena, Louisiana, where Khalil is being held, and Basile, Louisiana, where Ozturk is being held.

“This is America. This is not some communist state,” Carter said. 

Ozturk and Khalil, along with hundreds of students, have visas to study in the United States, yet the government is moving to deport them. The Trump administration said it is deporting students it deems antisemitic for participating in pro-Palestinian protests or writing about pro-Palestinian causes. Khalil was accused of distributing Hamas propaganda on campus.

Neither Khalil nor Ozturk has been charged with a crime.

“Both are being unlawfully detained in ICE facilities thousands of miles away from home, and denied the dignity, medical care, and due process they deserve,” Pressley said. “We’re in Louisiana to demand answers, shine a light on the damning violation of their constitutional rights, and call for their immediate release.”

Some Democrats have criticized immigration officials for sending the two students to facilities in Louisiana. Markey said the Trump administration sent them there in an attempt to get a more favorable hearing for their deportation proceedings, as Louisiana is a part of one of the most conservative appeals courts in the U.S.

“The very point of what they’re doing is to make these people examples of those whom the Trump administration wants to make examples of,” Markey said.

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Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, recently gave birth to their first child, a moment Khalil missed after being denied a temporary release, which Pressley called a “miscarriage of justice.”

“They are setting the foundational floor to violate the due process and free speech of every person who calls this country home, whatever your status is,” Pressley said. “It is shameful and it is a sham … it will not go unchecked.”