COLUMBUS — At least five Ohio State University students have had their F-1 visas revoked recently, according to our news partner WBNS in Columbus.
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A university spokesperson told WBNS that there is no indication why this action was taken. An F-1 visa is what students who wish to travel to the United States to study must have.
The students are still in the United States at this time, WBNS says.
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The announcement comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on foreign students. Many college officials worry the new approach will keep foreigners from studying in the US, WBNS says.
Students who have lost their visas are receiving orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately, WBNS says. The previous policy would have allowed students to stay and complete their studies.
Some students have been targeted over pro-Palestinian activism or criminal infractions — or even traffic violations, according to WBNS. Others have been left wondering how they ran afoul of the government.
At Minnesota State University in Mankato, President Edward Inch told the campus Wednesday that visas had been revoked for five international students for unclear reasons, WBNS says.
President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deport foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, and federal agents started by detaining Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card-holder and Palestinian activist who was prominent in protests at Columbia last year. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week students are being targeted for involvement in protests along with others tied to “potential criminal activity,” according to WBNS.
In the past two weeks, the government apparently has widened its crackdown. Officials from colleges around the country have discovered international students have had their entry visas revoked and, in many cases, their legal residency status terminated by authorities without notice — including students at Arizona State, Cornell, North Carolina State, the University of Oregon, the University of Texas and the University of Colorado, WBNS says.
Some of the students are working to leave the country on their own, but students at Tufts and the University of Alabama have been detained by immigration authorities — in the Tufts case, even before the university knew the student’s legal status had changed, according to WBNS.
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