Kathmandu: Universities across the United States are raising alarms as an increasing number of international students are having their visas unexpectedly revoked, in what college officials describe as a troubling shift in federal immigration enforcement, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Institutions including Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, UCLA, and Ohio State University have reported instances where students’ legal residency status was quietly terminated without prior warning to either the students or the schools. The cancellations have in some cases left students at risk of detention or deportation.
College leaders say this marks a stark departure from previous practices, where such actions were typically communicated with clear reasons and advance notice. Now, they report being left in the dark, often learning about a student’s changed immigration status only after checking federal databases.
While the Trump administration has previously drawn scrutiny for targeting international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism—such as Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and protest leader at Columbia University—colleges are now seeing visa cancellations even for students with no known protest affiliations. In some cases, minor past infractions such as traffic violations have been cited as grounds for termination. In many others, schools say the reasons remain unclear.
“This appears to be part of a broader pattern of intensified scrutiny on immigrants across the board,” said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of public affairs at the Migration Policy Institute, in a statement to AP.
University officials are now seeking clarity from federal agencies, concerned about the lack of transparency and the potential chilling effect on international student enrollment.
Source: AP