More than 6,000 student visas have been revoked by the State Department since January as the Trump Administration cracks down on international students and other immigrants to the U.S, the agency says.
Around two-thirds of the student visas have been cancelled due to overstays and other alleged law violations, including assault, DUI, and burglary, according to a State Department spokesperson. Roughly 200-300, they said, were revoked for “support for terrorism” under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which bars foreign-born people from admission to the country for engaging in—or being deemed likely to engage in—”terrorist activities.”
The revocations were first reported by Fox News.
The Trump Administration has targeted international students and student visa programs as part of its broader efforts to reshape both U.S. higher education and immigration. Students with legal status but without citizenship who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, including those involved in setting up encampments on college campuses, or otherwise showed support for Palestine, have been a particular focus of the Administration. Several, including former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with an official pointing to the President’s Executive Orders on antisemitism following Khalil’s arrest. Others have also been investigated.
Foreign-born students have also been the subject of attacks from the federal government’s battle with Harvard University, which has refused to cede to Administration demands including altering its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and changing its hiring practices to include more conservative voices. Amid an escalating pressure campaign, the Administration has sought to revoke the university’s ability to enroll international students, halt its federal research grants and funding, and more. A deal between university officials and the Administration is now reportedly being negotiated.
Other Administration measures have targeted foreign-born students more broadly.
In April, the immigration records of thousands of international students were erased from an information system due in many cases to minor or dismissed legal infractions—temporarily leaving them without legal status in the country—before the government reversed the action later in the month following mass public pressure from students and the court system.
Weeks later, the State Department announced in June that new student visa applicants had to make their social media accounts “public” to open them to review for potential “hostile attitudes towards our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.”
“A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right,” the June announcement said. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests.”
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