Mathematicians Boycott 2026 Philly Math Congress Over ICE Fears

Over 2,000 academics have signed a petition demanding the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians get pulled from Philadelphia before it opens this July, with signatories warning that foreign scholars risk detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement the moment they land on U.S. soil.

The petition doesn’t mince words. It calls out the government’s “unbridled hatred of immigrants” and flags specific flashpoints: the war on Iran, the invasion of Venezuela, President Trump’s push to annex Greenland. The ask is simple: move the congress out of the country entirely.

Organizers can’t ignore the 2022 parallel. That year’s ICM was set for St. Petersburg before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the whole thing online. Tarik Aougab, a math professor at Haverford College who helped write this petition, sees the situations as nearly identical. “The safety concerns, the travel concerns and the aggressive and belligerent nature of the state, at the time that the state is scheduled to host the conference, are all being triggered right now,” Aougab told Billy Penn. He’s argued that consistency requires the same call here.

Not everybody’s buying it. Jonathan Block, chair of the University of Pennsylvania math department and a member of the local organizing committee, thinks the boycott energy is pointed in the wrong direction. “The interest in boycotting is a little bit misplaced,” Block said. “The concerns that people have that are causing them to want to boycott the ICM for political reasons would probably be better served by actually having a successful conference in this country.”

Block acknowledged the petition could chip away at attendance, but he’s still targeting a record turnout. The goal: 6,000 mathematicians or more, descending on the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City for a week of lectures, short talks, and the Fields Medal ceremony. That award is math’s rough equivalent of the Nobel. “It is a time for mathematicians to come together and talk about what’s important in the field, take stock of the field and celebrate accomplishments,” Block said.

The congress runs July 23 through July 30. It hasn’t been held on U.S. soil in 40 years, and it only comes around every four years, so the stakes for Philadelphia’s academic community aren’t small. Scholars from dozens of countries have already flagged visa delays and secondary screening as real barriers to attendance, not hypothetical ones.

That’s the backdrop the 2,000-plus signatories are pointing to. It’s not abstract. ICE enforcement at airports has rattled researchers and academics across scientific disciplines, and the math community isn’t immune. The petition now has real momentum, and Block’s committee has 30 days or fewer to see whether the turnout projections hold.

What happens between now and July 23 could determine whether Philadelphia hosts one of the world’s premier scientific gatherings at full strength, or watches 6,000 expected attendees shrink to something far less historic.