The Trump administration has canceled dozens of international student visas on California campuses, including UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and Stanford, say university leaders, students, and faculty on campuses. At UCLA, the cancellations involved at least nine international students, university student and faculty groups said in a statement. It is unknown whether any of the students were detained by immigration officials or why the visas were cancelled.
At UC San Diego, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla wrote in a message to campus that five students had their visas invalidated. He said the university was notified “without warning.” Khosla said a sixth student was “detained at the border, denied entry, and deported to their home country.” “The federal government has not explained the grounds for these terminations,” wrote Khosla. “The students have been notified and we are in direct contact with them to provide support.”
Detailing a “fluid situation,” a UC Berkeley spokesperson on Saturday said the school had learned of at least six revoked visas. The spokesperson said four were for enrolled graduate and undergraduate students. Two others were for recent graduates.
At UC Davis, officials said seven students and five recent graduates had their visas revoked.
“This number is subject to change. Federal officials have not visited our campus, nor have they detained any member of our community,” a university statement on Saturday said.
According to sources, UC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity since they were not cleared to speak to the press confirmed that UC Irvine was also affected by the visa actions. Campus spokespeople did not respond to a request for more information. At Stanford, four students and two recent alumni had their visas revoked, according to officials. A university statement did not name the reasons why the students lost their visas or whether they were arrested.
A University of California statement said that “several” campuses had students who lost their visa status but would not elaborate. A spokesperson for USC, which has the state’s largest population of international students with more than 17,000, would not say if on-campus students were among those swept up in the visa crackdown. “The university does not comment on individual student visa statuses,” a statement from the university said.
The actions are part of mass visa cancellations that appear to have taken place across campuses around the country. The University of Kentucky, the University of Oregon, and Ohio State University are among other campuses where visa revocations have been announced. While the majority of the Trump administration’s attempts to cancel student visas and arrest students last month targeted pro-Palestinian activists, the motives behind the changes were not clear.
Asked whether the visa cancellations had to do with students who protested or other matters, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an email, “we’d have to look on a case by case basis.” She did not reply to a question about the number of visas revoked in California or how many of the state’s campuses were affected. The concerns on campus were acknowledged by UCLA student government leaders in a joint statement issued late Friday.
“We acknowledge these are immensely uncertain times. To all international students reading this: You are here to stay. Your presence at UCLA only makes this campus stronger, richer, and more vibrant. Our offices will only continue to stand, speak, and fight for you — loudly and unapologetically,” read the statement from Undergraduate Student Assn. Council President Adam Tfayli and International Student Representative Syed Tamim Ahmad.
The UC San Diego visa cancellations targeted students who did not engage in pro-Palestinian protests, pointed out the UC official. The Trump administration began revoking student visas last month at elite campuses such as Columbia, Cornell, George Washington, Tufts, and other universities where it alleged the targeted students were antisemitic and terrorist-sympathetic because they had engaged in pro-Palestinian writings or protests. The administration accused these students of supporting Hamas, which is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, and that they were threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
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