Trump administration has revoked 6,000 student visas

In an update first posted by Fox News and followed up by several national and international news outlets, the State Department said that around 4,000 of the visas revoked were due to students facing arrests or charges for law violations such as assault, burglary and driving under the influence.

The State Department official said that 200-to-300 of the revoked visas were attributed to the ‘terrorism done under INA 3B’ rule, which outlines grounds such as “having links to terrorist organisations” and “engaging in terrorist activities”.

After a three-week pause in new student visa interviews, the Department of State resumed interviews in June with new social media vetting guidelines in place.

This includes screening of history of political activism, ‘any indications of hostility’ towards the USA, support for antisemitic harassment, and ‘advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security’, with Hamas cited as a specific example.

In March, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that around 300 student visas had been revoked, including for pro-Palestine protests on university campuses.

The Trump administration has been engaged in a high-profile battle with Harvard University, claiming that the university has refused to hand over details of international students who engaged in campus protests.

International education industry associations and human rights groups expressed concerns that academic freedom and freedom of speech was being undermined, and several legal challenges have been launched.

Miriam Feldblum, President and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told Newsweek, “Hearing about the revocation of over 6,000 international student visas raises serious concerns about due process and First Amendment rights. We know that 3,200 of those visa revocations came in March and April as the result of a broad, indiscriminate sweep of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database that was conducted by ICE.

“This dragnet included students flagged for minor infractions, such as traffic violations, and others who were not given any explanation as to why they were targeted.”

The Trump administration has been engaged in a high-profile battle with Harvard University, claiming that the university has refused to hand over details of international student who engaged in campus protests.

The State Department told Fox News that around 40,000 visas across all visa categories have been revoked so far this year under the current administration, compared with 16,000 during the same time frame of the previous administration.

Stakeholders have also expressed concerns that the wave of visa revocations, as well as other stricter policies, more stringent vetting and visa delays will damage the reputation of the USA as a study destination.

NAFSA recently claimed that new international enrolments could decline by 30-to-40 per cent in the forthcoming academic year, which would result in a US$7 billion loss for the economy.