Local college students are asking for more transparency after five international students at UC San Diego had their student visas terminated, and a sixth was detained at the border and deported. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer reports.
Five UC San Diego students had their F-1 visas terminated this week, according to a campus-wide notice sent from Chancellor Pradeep Khosla's office on Friday, which also said a sixth student was "detained at the border, denied entry, and deported to their home country."
The statement continued by saying school officials received no prior warning to the notice and that "the federal government has not explained the reasons behind the terminations." The school will be working directly with the affected students for support.
"There's so much that we don't know and there's just so much fear in our community," said Adalia Lou, Editor-In-Chief of The UCSD Guardian. Its student-run newspaper was the first to report the announcement.
NBC 7 reached out directly to the chancellor's office for a comment. They provided the campus notice and a statement from the University of California, which currently has 10 campuses across the state. The UC statement reads:
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The University of California is aware that international students across several of our campuses have been impacted by recent SEVIS terminations. This is a fluid situation, and we continue to monitor and assess its implications for the UC community and the people affected. We are committed to doing what we can to support all members of our community as they exercise their rights under the law. In doing that, the University will continue to follow all applicable state and federal laws.
UC Office of the President
SEVIS, the Student Exchange Visitor Information System, is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's web-based data collection and monitoring system, according to UCSD's International Services and Engagement Office. The official U.S. Immigration and Customs website states it also provides a way for student and exchange visitor status violators to be identified so that appropriate enforcement is taken, such as denial of admission, denial of benefits or removal from the country.
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Immigration attorney Tammy Lin says students visas — called F-1s for undergraduates and J-1s for those at a higher level — can be terminated for any reason.
"There's a wide kind of discretion on their part in terms of why they might revoke someone's visa. If they don't meet the grade requirements, if they don't attend classes, if they failed to pay tuition," Lin said.
She added that under President Donald Trump, the federal government has taken a much stricter approach at schools across the country, particularly those with expressing dissent.
"It really will just scare, I think, and kind of silence the population that's already here and maybe even deter folks from coming in the future," Lin said.
Samar Ismail, a community organizer of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) San Diego, said she hopes universities put student safety at the forefront.
"What I hope changes is that the university actually upholds its values of protecting its students. Remember, these international students leave everything to come and study at one of the best universities in the nation," she said.
Similar incidents have been reported at colleges and universities across the U.S. It comes as the Trump administration cracks down on universities for what they say is a failure to uphold anti-discrimination laws when it comes to Jewish students.
In February, Trump also signed an order calling for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department had revoked around 300 or more student visas.
"We can cancel a student visa under the law just the same way that we can deny a student visa under the law. And we will do so in cases we find appropriate," he said.
UCSD was the site of a pro-Palestinian encampment last spring that led to the arrest of dozens of protesters. Similar protests were held at college campuses across the U.S., including at Columbia University and UC Berkeley, which were among five campuses subject to investigations by the Trump administration.
UCSD is also among dozens of colleges under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights of "potential enforcement actions" if they failed to uphold Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in regard to Jewish students. The agency said the investigation comes in response to complaints filed with OCR.
