USC’s campus seems to be running as usual, but a political shadow looms over many of the university’s international students. Dozens of international students have had their visas revoked by federal authorities in the past week at colleges and universities across California.
The Trump administration has already revoked hundreds of valid student visas nationwide. These actions leave students here on our campus wondering: “Is USC next?”
Visa revocations have affected at least 45 students and recent graduates from California universities such as UCLA, UC Irvine, and Stanford. Harvard, Columbia, and universities in Colorado have also faced similar actions on their campuses.
Some of these students participated in last year’s student protests against the war in Gaza. One doctoral student at Tufts University wrote an op-ed in her student paper. The Trump administration characterized these actions as having “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Others had committed minor infractions like traffic violations, regardless of whether there was ever a conviction.
While USC has not announced if any student visas have been canceled, Niels Frenzen, the director of USC’s Immigration Clinic, says the university could likely be a target in the future. USC is home to more than 17,000 international students, the most at any California school.
“We’ve been aware of this happening now for several weeks, and obviously there’s a lot of reporting about different things connected with visas that are happening to international students at universities across the country, and so it ain’t stopping today,” Frenzen said.
Frenzen believes there are two policies at play: visa revocations and terminations in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, also known as SEVIS. Visa revocations affect a student’s ability to remain in the U.S. Meanwhile, SEVIS terminations affect a student’s employment authorization, ability to re-enter the United States, and may result in them needing to leave the country.
Frenzen said there is an ideological factor in many of the visa revocations and SEVIS terminations. The State Department has been monitoring student social media accounts in a surveillance program called “Catch and Revoke,” which checks students’ accounts for what it considers concerning political activity.
“People are being vetted for pro-Palestinian or allegedly pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, allegedly anti-Semitic comments. That is a potential basis, in the government’s view, for the visa ratification or a status termination,” Frenzen said.
He warns international students to be careful about what they post and like on social media. As well as what information they have stored on their phones and computers.
Frenzen encourages these students to educate themselves on their rights, stay informed on the latest actions from the government, and seek legal advice if needed.
As Frenzen expects more action from federal authorities in the near future, he recommends that international students maintain full-time enrollment, only take a paid job if they are authorized to do so, and make sure their SEVIS record is up to date.