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Five students at UMass Amherst, two current students and five other university community members at UMass Boston, five Harvard University community members, and seven recent Harvard grads had their visas revoked, the universities said.
The Trump Administration has revoked the visas of at least 17 international students or recent graduates attending Massachusetts colleges, their universities announced this weekend.
Three Harvard University students and two recent graduates have had their student visas revoked, the Ivy League’s International Office announced Sunday. The Harvard International Office, or HIO, said the school learned of the five revocations during a routine review.
Five international students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst had their visas revoked “and student statuses terminated by the federal government,” Chancellor Javier Reyes announced Friday night.
The Department of Homeland Security also revoked visas and legal immigration status of two current students and five other university community members at UMass Boston, leaders announced Saturday. The other community members included recent graduates participating in “training programs,” UMass Boston said in an email to the university.
UMass Amherst was not notified by the federal government about the visa revocations but instead through “proactive checks” of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s database, Reyes said.
Reyes called the revocations “troubling on several levels.” Previously, if a student’s visa was revoked, their legal status wouldn’t immediately be canceled. Under Trump’s administration, students’ legal status are being revoked within hours after the visa, Reyes said.
“Like so many others, I came to the United States to study through the student visa program,” Reyes said. “We came to better ourselves, better our communities, and better the country that welcomed us as scholars.”
The Harvard students, who were not been identified for privacy reasons, were notified and referred to legal assistance, the university said.
Last year, international students studying in the United States hit an all-time high. Harvard’s international student body has steadily increased for years and reached more than 27 percent of total enrollment this school year.
“Harvard deeply values the international students and scholars who travel here to learn and grow,” Harvard’s update said. “The talent they bring to campus each day increases our ability to advance world-class discovery in fields that have meaningful impact on people’s lives, while creating positive relationships and discourse that expand the horizons of people across our community.”
Higher education leaders told the Associated Press that DHS is targeting some international students over pro-Palestinian activism or criminal infractions like traffic violations. Five international students at Minnesota State University had their visas revoked, while students at the University of Alabama were also detained by immigration authorities, AP reported.
Tufts PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish national, was detained two weeks ago by ICE agents outside an off-campus apartment building in Somerville in late March. She has not been charged with or accused of any crime but is being targeted because she co-authored an op-ed critical of Tufts’s response to the war in Gaza, her lawyers said. A federal judge has moved her case to Vermont.
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