Across the United States, the government is revoking international student visas. Immigration attorneys have said that the students most commonly affected have some sort of arrest or criminal record, including minor charges filed against them, such as speeding tickets.
At Arizona State University, the number of international students whose visas have been revoked increased from eight to 50 in a week, according to an attorney representing the students. One ASU student remains in immigration detention and has been locked up for about 10 days, according to Senior Attorney Ami Hutchinson.
At Texas A&M University, about 15 students have lost their visas. The university stated that none of the students had committed dangerous offenses. At the University of Las Vegas, the federal government revoked the visas of four international students studying.
Other American universities, such as Harvard, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Stanford, have also reported several international students with revoked visas.
Student visas can be revoked for a number of reasons, but many colleges and universities say that the federal government has been quietly terminating students’ legal residency status with little to no notice to students or schools.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on March 27 that the State Department has revoked over 300 student visas nationwide since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Colleges are still trying to support international students, but there is still a growing sense of uncertainty and anxiety about the future.
