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21-08-2025
WASHINGTON: The State Department has revoked more than 6,000 international student visas because of violations of US law and overstays, the department told media.
The agency said the “vast majority” of the violations were assault, driving under the influence (DUI), burglary and “support for terrorism”.
The move comes as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigration and international students.
While the State Department did not specify what they meant by “support for terrorism”, the Trump administration has targeted some students who have protested in support of Palestine, arguing they had expressed anti-Semitic behavior.
Of the 6,000 student visas that were revoked, the State Department said about 4,000 of those were revoked because visitors broke the law.
Another 200-300 visas were also revoked for “terrorism done under INA 3B”, the State Department said, referring to code that defines “terrorist activity” broadly as acts that endanger human life or violate US law.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration paused scheduling visa appointments for international students. In June, when they restarted appointments, they announced they would ask all applicants to make their social media accounts public for enhanced screening.
They said they would search for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.
State Department officers were also instructed to screen for those “who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in May that he estimated “thousands” of student visas had been rescinded since January.
“I don’t know the latest count but we probably have more to do,” Rubio told US lawmakers on 20 May. “We’re going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities.”
Democrats have pushed back against the Trump administration’s effort to revoke student visas, describing it is an attack on due process.
More than 1.1 million international students from over 210 countries were enrolled in US colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to Open Doors, an organization that collects data on foreign students.
Meanwhile, students around the world are anxious and in limbo, they say, as the Trump administration makes plans to temporarily halt US student visa appointments.
An official memo seen by media ordered a temporary pause in appointments as the state department prepares to increase social media vetting of applicants for student and foreign exchange visas.
It is part of a wide-ranging crackdown by US President Donald Trump on some of America’s most elite universities, which he sees as overly liberal.
For students, the changes have brought widespread uncertainty, with visa appointments at US embassies now unavailable and delays that could leave scholarships up in the air.
Some students told media that the confusion has even left them wishing they had applied to schools outside the US.
“I already regret it,” said a 22-year-old master’s student from Shanghai, who did not wish to be named for fear of jeopardizing their visa to study at the University of Pennsylvania.
The student said they feel lucky their application was approved but that has not eased their uncertainty. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
