More California universities report the cancellations of student visas

Confusion and concerns fell back into the colleges of California during the weekend, as campus officials said they had been aware by the Trump administration of dozens of international students.

The UCLA confirmed on Sunday that the federal authorities revoked the visas of 12 community members last week: six current students and six recent graduates. In a message on campus, Chancellor Julio Frenk suggested that the government had not informed the UCLA in advance. The problems were found during a “routine audit” of a database of immigrant students linked to the Ministry of Internal Security, he said. The government had moved the status of students and canceled its visa from the State Department.

“The dismissal opinions indicate that all terminations were due to violations of the terms of individuals’ visa programs,” said Frenk in his message on the campus. “Currently, the UCLA is not aware of any federal activity of application of the Campus Act linked to these terminations.”

Later, he said to the campus: “We recognize that these actions can bring enormous feelings of uncertainty and anxiety to our community. We want our students, the staff and teachers of the international and international UCLA only know that we support your ability to work, learn, teach and prosper here. ”

Also Sunday, UC Santa Cruz said that three of its students’ visas had been dismissed “without notice”.

“The federal government has not detailed the reasons for these layoffs,” said Cynthia Larive Campus. “We informed the three students and are in direct contact with them to provide support.”

Other UC – Berkeley, Davis and San Diego – and Stanford campuses announced the cancellations of student visa on Friday and Saturday. At the UC San Diego, a student was also detained for expulsion at the border, according to a message from the Campus of Chancellor Pradeep Khosla.

An UC official told Times that UC Irvine students had also been affected by scanning. No other details have been provided. The manager took the floor anonymously because they were not allowed to speak to the media. A spokesperson for UC Irvine did not respond to a request Sunday for more information.

The Trump administration has changed the status of students in Sevis, a system linked to the Department of Internal Security that schools use to provide information on the question of whether foreign students are registered in the classes, to respect the work restrictions and otherwise in good standing.

Without registration status or valid visas, students could be opened to the implementation measures of immigration against them. Federal immigration authorities generally only have individuals when they are a public danger or a risk of flight, but the Trump administration has sometimes taken more aggressive measures. Schools have not reported federal immigration authorities on campuses.

An anonymous student of the County of Orange County also put a legal action on Saturday before the Los Angeles Federal Court against the Trump administration, alleging that their status on an unnamed campus was illegally dismissed. The trial indicates that the only legal violations of the student were a “minor speeding ticket and a condemnation for driving linked to alcohol” and that the State Department was aware of the accusation of alcohol before renewing its visa.

The action of the administration “seems to be designed to force students, including the applicant, to abandon their studies and to” relax “, indicates the trial. “If Ice believes that a student is expelled to have a revoked visa, he has the power to initiate procedures for referring and advice. However, he cannot abuse Sevis to bypass the law, strip the status students and drive them out of the country without process. ”

Since school heads do not receive warnings about changes, employees rush to find out how many students have been assigned. Some accounts have fluctuated several times a day. In UC Berkeley, the campus initially declared on Saturday that four students’ visas had been canceled. He then revised the number twice and landed in six.

Other campuses always assess their registrations for international students.

USC officials refused to say if student visas had been canceled on campus, which is home to more than 17,000 international students, the largest concentration of any California campus. Students and professor leaders said on Sunday that they had not heard of revocations.

At UC San Francisco, a spokesperson said on Sunday that there had been no visa action. A spokesperson for UC Merced on Sunday refused to say if the campus was assigned, while representatives of the UC Santa Barbara and the Riverside UC did not respond to requests on the same day.

In total, the revocations of the visas discovered since Friday affected at least 45 students and recent graduates in California. They include undergraduate students, graduates and people under student visas as part of the “optional practical training”, an employee designation after obtaining the diploma which gives extensions of temporary visa to allow students to obtain professional experience.

A spokesperson for internal security did not respond to a request to provide a total number of affected campuses or people in California.

Nationally, similar actions since last week have affected students from Arizona State, the State of Colorado, Columbia, Harvard, the State of North Carolina and several other universities.

We do not know why the Trump administration reveals the visas. In March, the interior security and state departments arrested several foreign students, including those of Columbia University, for expulsion. These actions were based on allegations that their pro-Palestinian protest activities were “pro-Hamas”-the militant group that the United States has appointed as a terrorist organization-and a threat to American security and foreign policy. Many of these detention are disputed before the federal courts.

But according to the members of the campus, many of the most recent cancellations do not seem to be linked to the demonstrators.

“The endings can be due to recent or past interactions with the police – ranging from arrests to criminal or offense infringements,” said Syed Tamim Ahmad, UCLA junior who is the international student government representative. “The students received an email from the visa management system, but it’s very brief. He simply informs them of dismissal and quotes a reason for dismissal as indicated in Sévis. He also refers to them to seek an external legal advisor. ”

Ahmad said he had received the reasons for the dismissals of the Dashew Center, which is the UCLA international student office. The director of the center, Sam Nahidi, refused a request for interview with the Times.

The question of an earlier criminal case was recently raised at the University of Minnesota after the arrest in the march of a Turkish student. The Trump administration said that visa actions against the student were due to an arrest of drunkenness in 2023 during which he pleaded guilty. The student declared in a legal file that he had followed in the programs of state drivers after the alcoholic affair.

“What is happening now is fundamentally different from what has happened before,” said Ahilan T. Arulanantham, co -director of the faculty of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the Ucla School of Law. “The government seems to revoke the visas and stop and expel students according to the interactions that are too minor for having been interesting for the past. People with an imprudent driving ticket and who then finished driver training, for example. In some cases, I have seen, there is not even criminal or arrest accusation, but only a quote. “

In a written statement to the Times, a spokesperson for the State Department refused to share details on cancellations in California.

The spokesman added that the United States “has zero tolerance for non-citizens who violate American laws. Those who break the law, including students, can face a visa refusal, the revocation of visas and / or expulsion. The Ministry of State will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Internal Security to administer and apply American visas and immigration laws. ”

At the UCLA, students and teachers rush to help those who have lost their visa status. A “tip of ice sheet” is circulating to guide students on how to potentially manage immigration and customs agents. Students are also directed to a hotline for the UCLA region and the legal aid of the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, based at UC Davis.

On Sunday, the teachers of the UCLA working group on anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism also published a letter to the Campus Chancellor asking more aid to international students.

“It is urgent that you take measures to protect international students from the UCLA,” said the letter. Among other requests, he called on the University to “challenge the Department of Internal Security for its inability to follow the regular procedure”, ensure the registration of students whose visas have been canceled and offer those who leave the United States the possibility of completing their distance studies.