International Students Shocked as Hundreds of Visas Suddenly Revoked Nationwide
Reports suggest that the Trump administration is seeking various reasons to cancel student visas, such as even minor traffic offenses like speeding tickets.
Across the United States, universities and students are highlighting the unexpected cancellation of visas affecting numerous international students. Last week, in states such as California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, and others, these students found out that their visas had been invalidated without prior warning or an explicit reason. This widespread action taken by the Trump administration offers very little clarity regarding the specifics involved.
Traffic infractions employed as a justification
Certain students have mentioned that they had their visas canceled due to offenses as trivial as this. speeding ticket "The government appears to be canceling visas and apprehending as well as expelling students over interactions that were previously considered too insignificant to warrant attention," stated Ahilan T. Arulanantham, who serves as Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. told The Los Angeles Times . "People with a reckless driving ticket and who then completed the driver's training, for example. In some cases I have seen, there is not even a criminal charge or arrest, but only a citation."
Without any communication from the Trump administration, international students nationwide have started compiling a database to voluntarily report their visa cancellations. reporting by The Guardian , students at over 50 universities across the US reported that their student visas were canceled around April 4.
Major universities impacted
The latest round ofvisa cancellations has affectedstudents at multiple key organizations in California UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and Stanford, along with some others. International students from various additional universities had their visas annulled under the Trump administration as well, including those at Arizona State University , Harvard University , Columbia University , the University of Tennessee , among others.
Last month, Marco Rubio bragged at a press conference that he had revoked the visas of over 300 international students, specifically for pro-Palestine protest activity. "It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa," Rubio said at the press conference, which took place in Guyana on March 27.
AI surveillance powers the "Capture and Cancel" initiative.
The latest round of visa cancellations has reignited concerns over the State Department’s “Catch and Revoke” initiative. This contentious strategy employs artificial intelligence to examine the social media activity of visa recipients, assessing whether they express backing for U.S.-designated terrorist organizations like Hamas. The Biden administration has leveraged this as justification to clamp down on demonstrations supporting Palestine. According To Faiza Patel from the Brennan Center for Justice, such a program would likely make "basic errors," she argues.
Many worry that the Trump administration is utilizing social media to single out pro-Palestinian students. This observation comes from journalist Ken Klippenstein. reported on March 28 that he had obtained a "sensitive" State Department directive, issued by Marco Rubio, which enforces a "social media review" of new and returning student visa applicants for evidence of "advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support" for terrorist organizations. Specific reference is made in the document to students who participate in "pro-Hamas events," which is how Rubio and other Trump administration officials have referred to pro-Palestine protests.
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