3 Harvard students, 2 recent graduates, revoked visas | News

Updated on Sunday April 6 at 4:34 p.m.

Three students from Harvard and two recent graduates saw their student visa revoked in the mid-development of the Trump administration to expel international students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations, according to an email from the Harvard international office to international students.

Harvard discovered the visas revoked during a “Routine Recording Reviews”, according to the email.

The Hio has not identified students or graduates of email, citing confidentiality problems. The Crimson was not immediately able to determine the identities of the students.

“We are not aware of the details of the revocations or the reasons for them, but we understand that the comparable number of students and researchers in establishments across the country has experienced similar status changes in the same period of time,” wrote the Hio.

The Trump administration has moved to expel students and international teachers who have been involved in pro-Palestine activism. On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said more than 300 visas had been dismissed in recent weeks.

Rubio announced on Saturday that the United States would revoke all visas for South-Sudanese passport holders.

A university spokesperson refused to comment.

The country’s colleges administrators have discovered student visas revoked by performing database checks, without being informed by federal agencies. Some international students had their status of legal residence – in addition to the entrance visas – removed, an unusual step which could force them to immediately leave the country.

Although many students have lost visas due to pro -Palestine statements, some have had visas dismissed due to other incidents – including traffic violations.

The Hio email comes less than two weeks after the TUFTS University Ph.D.. Student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen who wrote a pro-Palestine editorial, saw her visa revoked after being arrested by ice officials near her home in Somerville. Ozturk has been accused of engaging in “Hamas support” activities by a spokesperson for the United States Ministry of Internal Security.

And the University of Massachusetts Amherst announced on Friday that five international students had revoked their visa last week.

But Sunday’s email was the first public indication that Harvard students were taken in the Trump administration’s visa.

In February, a visa belonging to the researcher of the School School and the Russian citizen Kseniia Petrova was revoked after having failed to properly declare the frog embryos which she brought to the country. Petrova is held in a Louisiana ice installation.

The Hio wrote in Sunday email that “Harvard deeply appreciates international students and academics who travel here to learn and grow”.

“The talent they bring to the campus every day increases our ability to advance world class discovery in fields that have a significant impact on people’s lives, while creating positive relationships and discourse that widen the horizons of people in our community,” they wrote.

This is a story in development and will be updated.

—The writer Dhruv T. Patel contributed the reports.

—The writer Samuel A. The church is contacted in samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow it on x @samuelachurch.

—The writer cam N. Srivastava can be contacted in Cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow it on x @camsrivastava.