Over 1,000 foreign students in US have visas revoked amid Trump campus crackdown
The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports that at least 1,024 international students at 160 colleges, universities and university systems in the US have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has argued it should be allowed to deport noncitizens over involvement in pro-Palestinian activism at campuses across the US.
But in the vast majority of visa revocations, colleges say there is no indication the targeted students had a role in protests, the AP reports. In messages to their campuses, colleges have said they are asking the federal government for answers on what led to the terminations of visa and residence status.
“These are unprecedented times, and our normal guiding principles for living in a democratic society are being challenged,” University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco said.
US judge orders pro-Palestine student be moved to Vermont
A US court has ordered immigration authorities to transfer Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont, where her legal petition to be released from detention could be reviewed while she is present in person.
Ozturk – a graduate student at Tufts University – was arrested by plain-clothed, masked immigration agents last month over her support for Palestinian rights.
A federal judge found that Ozturk has constitutional grounds to challenge her detention, dismissing the Trump administration’s argument that federal district courts cannot review its actions on immigration.
Ozturk was moved to Louisiana after her detention in what critics say is part of a government effort to keep detainees away from their supporters and lawyers – and in conservative-leaning legal districts.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that this case will continue in this Court with Ms Ozturk physically present for the remainder of the proceedings,” US District Judge William Sessions said.
