How International Students Got Swept Up in Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Crackdown

Shortly after the Trump administration took office, the State Department warned international scholars and students — people who had come to the U.S. to teach, conduct research and learn — that it planned to revoke visas based on allegations of antisemitism or for their purported support for groups like Hamas or Hezbollah.

What happened was far more expansive — a sweeping termination of students’ immigration status records in a Department of Homeland Security-managed database known as SEVIS (the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System), which left students and scholars — as well as their lawyers — with questions about their legal status while in the U.S.

The terminations often had “no clear reason or rationale attached, ” but affected more than 1,800 students at 280 institutions by April 25, when the Department of Justice announced that the policy had been temporarily halted.

In announcing the halt, the Department of Justice also made clear that it intends to “work up a new framework to revoke and cancel student visas.” The decision followed more than 100 lawsuits filed by students, universities and advocacy groups to end the revocations. The information revealed in those lawsuits have shed new light on the Trump administration’s multipronged attack on international students and scholars.

The wave of visa revocations followed a spate of high-profile arrests of campus activists, including Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts student who was in the U.S. on a student visa, as well as Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and green card holder. Those arrests came after a report from the news outlet Axios, which found the State Department had been using artificial intelligence in what it calls a “catch and revoke” mission to monitor foreign nationals, with particular attention to student visa holders. The report said that the State Department was working alongside the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security “in what one senior State official called a ‘whole of government and whole of authority approach.’” As more students heard updates on their statuses, it became clear that the intended targets went beyond political protesters.

As of April 24, the news outlet Inside Higher Ed documented at least 1,800 students and scholars whose visa records in the SEVIS database were originally revoked. They attend or teach at a wide array of colleges and universities — ranging from public to private, from the Ivy League to art schools and small liberal arts programs.

And, while some of those targeted may have been actively involved in pro-Palestinian organizing, others believe they lost their visas because of minor traffic infractions or other low-level offenses that appear on their record.

More details came to light in a hearing on April 29 for one of the suits brought by a targeted student. In the hearing, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes urged government officials to share details over what they dubbed the “Student Criminal Alien Initiative.” Government officials described a program in which ICE, alongside contractors, ran the names of foreign students through a federal index that tracks interactions with law enforcement — including things like traffic arrests or charges that may have been dropped, if they were ever brought at all. The data analysis used to revoke visas or to terminate SEVIS records, Politico reports, was done with minimal oversight or review.

In the past, federal officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have repeatedly sought to justify student visa revocations, saying that the State Department has unbridled authority to revoke visas and deport all noncitizens who are “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the U.S.”

But those public arguments fell apart when it came to individual legal cases.

In court, the government argued that the termination of records in SEVIS was simply an issue of removing information from a government database: “Terminating a record in SEVIS does not terminate an individual’s nonimmigrant status in the United States,” an ICE official declared on April 14. “Terminating a record within SEVIS does not effectuate a visa revocation.” Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers, when pressed by Reyes in another case, were unable to answer questions about the student’s legal status. “This is not Schrodinger’s visa,” Reyes said. “Either he’s here legally or he’s not here legally.” Historically, removing a visa for international students does not automatically lead to deportation orders or indicate that a person must leave the country.

New York City-based immigration attorney Kaitlyn Amanda Box told Truthout that the more than 1 million international students currently in the U.S. typically begin the process of international study by applying to a school that is both accredited and certified to admit international students. Once accepted, the institution provides the student with an I-20 form that outlines their intended course of study and asks for basic biographical information. The State Department then vets everything and students are typically issued an F-1 visa (for study at an accredited college, university or language institute), a J-1 visa (for international student exchange programs) or an M-1 visa (for non-academic vocational training). The process, Box reports, can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Once issued, a visa is normally good for the duration of time it takes to complete a degree; international scholars are generally authorized to stay for five years.

If a student’s visa is revoked, Box says, “colleges and universities need to understand that this does not prohibit the student from attending classes or change their enrollment status.” In fact, she continues, “While a visa allows a noncitizen to enter the country, it does not control their status once they’re here. If they leave to go home for a visit, though, because the original visa was revoked, they will need to apply for a new one. It is now uncertain if a second visa will be granted.” ICE is now indicating that this may change. In an internal memo, the agency shared a new policy warning that students whose visas are revoked may also get their legal status canceled.

In addition, Box said that following the April 25 pause, many questions remain unanswered. “No guidance has been promulgated so far to indicate what recourse, if any, people whose visas were canceled have,” Box told Truthout.

This includes questions about whether or not those with revoked visas can continue to do paid work on campus.

“Working in the U.S. could become an issue,” she said. “Some international students have on-campus jobs, and schools are unsure if they can still pay them. In addition, most international students want to spend additional time in the U.S. and complete an Optional Practical Training (OPT) program once they finish their degrees.” Until the Trump takeover, OPT allowed recent graduates an additional year during which they were permitted to complete an internship or work; STEM graduates were able to extend this for an additional 24 months. “But now,” Box said, “everyone is worried that they’ll be unable to find a job or apprenticeship since mentors are afraid of negative consequences if they take someone on.”

Not surprisingly, she reports that this is taking an emotional toll on visiting faculty and international students. “There is so much fear and panic,” she said. “People are worried about their ability to fulfill their goals and control their education. A small number are even self-deporting and hoping to finish their programs online.”

Thiri, a doctoral student in theology from Southeast Asia who asked to be identified by first name only to avoid being targeted by the Trump administration, told Truthout that her anxiety ramped up shortly after the revocations began. “I know that my visa is vulnerable,” she said, “so I have provided hospitality to student protesters who need food or a place to stay. I have not gone to any demonstrations or rallies. I care deeply about what is happening in Gaza and in other places throughout the world, but I feel helpless. I don’t think it is safe for me to protest, but I am doing what I can. I know I have to stay grounded to complete my dissertation.”

Like Thiri, Neha is hunkering down. Neha, who also asked to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals, came to the U.S. from India last fall to enroll in a one-year fashion management master’s degree program in New York City. “This is a global program,” she told Truthout. “I’m learning how to navigate fashion trends and understand how the industry functions. But being in America is getting scarier and scarier for me. I came here wanting to stay and work but I’m now so worried that I carry my immigration papers with me at all times in case I’m stopped by ICE. I’m afraid of what might happen next.”

“Every day, there’s a new policy or executive order,” Hua Li, also a pseudonym for a fine arts undergraduate from China, told Truthout. “They’re arresting people with green cards, so I am terrified. I’ve deleted my social media,” Li added. “I want to go home to see my family this summer, once I graduate, but I also want to do an OPT year. I’m worried that they won’t let me return. No one at my college has answers, so I really don’t know what I should do.”

Part of the problem is that college administrators don’t have answers either. But some are beginning to come together to develop strategies to resist the Trump administration’s attempts to control everything from curriculum to student enrollment to faculty hires.

The Coalition for Action in Higher Education — a group that includes the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Scholars for Social Justice, Higher Education Labor United, the American Comparative Literature Association, the Debt Collective, Historians for Peace and Democracy and Jewish Voice for Peace — coordinated a nationwide Day of Action for Higher Education on April 17 that not only denounced the visa revocations, but also opposed efforts to restrict campus activism. Moreover, several high-profile college administrators — Michael Roth at Wesleyan, Jonathan Levin and Jenny Martinez at Stanford, Christopher Eisgruber at Princeton, and Alan Garber at Harvard — have denounced the Trump administration’s attempt to force universities to adopt an anti-democratic and narrow ideological line in order to continue receiving federal funding. Some, including Harvard, have sued the administration — a riposte that some commentators have noted should be seen as a “bare minimum” rather than a sufficient response.

Other schools have focused more narrowly on the visa issue. The American Council on Education and 15 other higher education associations requested a meeting with the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security in early April — as yet unscheduled — to demand “clarity” about the termination of student visas. That request continues to be relevant.

Needless to say, there is a lot at stake. “Today, more than 1 million international students attend American universities,” the Association of American Universities wrote in an email to Truthout. “These students conduct life-saving research, start businesses, and foster intellectual dynamism. The administration’s recent actions concerning international students create a great deal of uncertainty on college campuses and could deter global talent from coming to the United States.”

That talent, the American Council on Education estimates, is worth $43.8 billion a year and supports 375,000 U.S. jobs. Universities have their own financial stake in keeping international students safe: The Institute of International Education estimates that 81 percent of international undergraduates and 61 percent of international graduate students pay their tuition and living fees entirely on their own, without financial aid.

But the looming financial pinch is not the only thing vexing colleges. International scholars are also fearful about their continued ability to teach, do research and collaborate with U.S.-based colleagues.

Veena Dubal, general counsel of the AAUP, told Truthout that the organization is suing Marco Rubio to stop the “chilling and dismantling of academic freedom.”

The lawsuit was promulgated, she said, because so many AAUP members were reporting that their international colleagues were canceling papers, workshops and conferences due to fear of being deported. “Noncitizens feel that they are under scrutiny,” she said. “This is true for those with green cards as well as those here on temporary visas. What is particularly striking is that there is a confluence between Title VI investigations and attacks on preferred speech.” (Last month, 60 colleges throughout the country were notified that they were being investigated for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The charge? Antisemitism.)

People who write about foreign policy are obvious targets, she said, but the administration is also directing its animosity toward people who organize or write about gender, queer themes, climate change and race. “People are scared,” Dubal adds, “and are deciding not to teach classes on these subjects. Our lawsuit is a way to attack the administration’s use of fear tactics against this subset of vulnerable people. People whose funding is being cut are being censored because their work does not comport with Trump’s preferred ideology. The administration is offering a brazen and perverse vision of what society needs.”

Since the lawsuit was filed, it has garnered significant support. An amicus brief supported by 86 organizations and led by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a group formed to support international students and boost documented and undocumented college enrollment, is demanding a preliminary injunction to “safeguard academic freedom and halt the large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of students and faculty engaged in constitutionally-protected activities.”

The brief stresses that the administration’s actions will not only deter international students from coming to the U.S. but will deny U.S.-born students the opportunity to hear global perspectives. Since 2013, 12 million international students have studied at American colleges and universities. By 2023, they accounted for 6 percent of domestic higher education enrollment.

That said, some colleges are far more reliant on international students than others. According to ArtNews, 33 percent of students at the Rhode Island School of Design are international. Similarly, half of the students at the School of Visual Arts; 35 percent at Parsons School of Design; 30 percent at California Institute of the Arts; and 29 percent at the Art Institute of Chicago and Pratt come from outside the U.S.

And art schools and their students are not anomalies.

“Students who are here on visas are fearful about speaking out but are adjusting to the new reality of this administration,” Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Truthout. “They are realizing that they need to step back and allow U.S.-born citizens to step forward in anti-occupation and anti-genocide protests. But people are continuing to protest, and students are not backing down despite the Trump administration’s use of tactics that represent the most autocratic regimes. It’s incredible. These students have been so courageous and largely peaceful in their exercise of free speech. That’s the story we need to elevate.”