On Friday, Stanford University and UC San Diego released statements confirming that international students have had their visas revoked due to Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) record terminations. Since then, five more UC schools have released similar announcements.
On Monday evening, USC’s Office of International Services (OIS) released a statement acknowledging the pattern of visa revocations and provided a link to answers to frequently asked questions.
“Our international students and scholars are valued members of the Trojan Family. Please take advantage of the university’s support resources,” the announcement stated. The Office of International Services and the Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic at USC are two resources available for international students.
USC has not announced any student visa revocations. Annenberg Media reached out to the university to confirm that no students have been directly affected, and the university responded: “The university does not disclose information about the status of individual student visas,” and referred to the FAQs provided by the OIS.
Since the March 8 arrest and deportation of Columbia graduate and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the U.S. is revoking student visas daily. Some of these students were active in pro-Palestinian campus protests after October 7, 2023, including at the USC encampment protests.
The deportation charges are not limited to pro-Palestinian activism. Some were targeted for years-old minor criminal violations on their record, like speeding tickets.
“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a press conference on March 27 with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.
Niels Frenzen, director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, said that the administration’s recent executive orders and Trump’s posts on Truth Social indicated this was coming.
“If anyone is surprised by it, they haven’t been paying attention to what the administration has been saying,” Frenzen said.
International students speak out
One USC international student from India, who requested anonymity out of fear for her safety, said that though she did not participate in any protests on campus, she has changed how she navigates on social media. The student agreed to be referred to by their initial, “P.”
“I’ve stopped engaging with social media posts that may be polarizing,” P. said. “I’ve stopped reposting things, liking things, commenting on things that just might be targeting.”
Yousef Khafaja, a third-year international student at CSU Long Beach, said immigration lawyers told him his case closely mirrors Khalil’s. Khafaja, born to Palestinian immigrant parents, participated in the USC and UCLA pro-Palestinian encampments last Spring, according to Annenberg Media.
“I could be kidnapped on the street like [Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk] in Massachusetts,” he said.
Despite previous plans to return to his home country, Germany, to visit his parents, Khafaja said, “I have made the decision not to leave the country this year. Matter of fact, I have been advised not to set foot in an airport at all.”
Khafaja said he believes most international students are just trying to get their degrees and complete their education.
He said that despite the country emphasizing democracy, he believes the U.S. “is heading towards fascism.”
“There’s no way to justify what’s happening,” Khafaja said.
What happens when a visa is revoked?
Jean Reese, a professor at the USC Gould School of Law and co-director of the USC Immigration Clinic, said that a visa revocation does not make a student an illegal resident, but it prevents re-entry into the U.S. on that visa.
However, if an international student’s SEVIS status is terminated, they lose their right to be in the U.S.
SEVIS, run by the Department of Homeland Security, monitors international students (F-1 and M-1 students) and exchange visitors (J visa holders) while they are in the United States, according to ICE.
“Each university, including USC, has to provide data and enter information into this program,” Reese said. “Terminating your SEVIS account is another way of terminating your student visa.”
If a person’s SEVIS status is terminated, “that would give a basis for the Department of Homeland Security to arrest someone and place them in removal proceedings, or what’s colloquially called deportation proceedings,” Reese said.
California schools that have been impacted
After a “routine check of the SEVIS database,” Stanford University confirmed on Friday that six people, four current students and two recent graduates, had their visas revoked.
On the same day as Stanford, UC San Diego sent an update that “without warning,” they received a notification that five of their students had their F-1 visas terminated, and one student was detained at the border and deported back to their home country.
On Sunday, UCLA and UC Santa Cruz’s chancellors released statements on SEVIS record terminations of their students. Julio Frenk, UCLA’s chancellor, reported that the SEVIS status of six current students and six former students was terminated.
“The termination notices indicate that all terminations were due to violations of the terms of the individuals’ visa programs. At this time, UCLA is not aware of any federal law enforcement activity on campus related to these terminations,” wrote Frenk.
UC Santa Cruz’s Chancellor Cynthia Larive stated that three UC Santa Cruz students had their records terminated in a campus update.
On Monday, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC Riverside disclosed that current students or recent graduates had their visas revoked and non-immigrant status terminated by the federal government. The UC system released a public announcement on Friday that said it is aware of the recent widespread SEVIS terminations.
“We are committed to doing what we can to support all members of our community as they exercise their rights under the law,” the statement read.
Who is at risk?
“International students, regardless of what university they are enrolled in, are potential targets,” Frenzen said.
President Donald Trump said he is following through with his campaign promise to crack down on antisemitism, and a new AI-driven approach to finding international students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, called “Catch and Revoke,” is now in effect, according to Axios. Senior State Department officials said the new program will look at the social media histories of international students in the United States and target those who appear to support Hamas or other terror groups.
“People are being vetted for being allegedly pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, antisemitic comments,” Frenzen said. “That is a potential basis, in the government’s view, for the visa revocation or a status termination.”
There are also reports on visas being revoked or statuses being terminated due to minor criminal arrests or convictions.
Fuji Whittenburg, an immigration lawyer in Calabasas, said that one of her clients is “an Indian national who got a DUI when he was studying in the United States more than a decade ago,” according to the New York Times.
“The government is not only using the termination or visa revocation process for someone who’s been convicted of a crime,” Frenzen said. “The reports are that it’s being used against people who’ve been accused of a crime and arrested for a crime, even though there was no subsequent conviction.”
How will this affect the international student community at USC and across the U.S.?
Open Doors, which is published by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education, released the Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange in November 2024. The report showed a 7% increase in international students at U.S. universities for the 2023-2024 school year, and the country reached an all-time high of more than 1.1 million international students.
In the same Open Doors report, California was ranked the #1 state with 140,858 students. USC hosts the most international students, with 17,469. In 2024, 26.6% of USC’s student population was international, according to USC’s Facts and Stats website page.
“I just spoke to someone the day before yesterday, who is debating between going to school [in the U.S.] or to the UK, and they mentioned that the uncertainty may help them lean towards picking the UK,” P. said.
What should international students do now?
Frenzen said that international students who may be subject to visa revocation or SEVIS record termination should educate themselves on their rights.
He also suggests that those who fear for their status in the U.S. should seek legal advice. The USC immigration clinic has a program called the Immigrant Legal Assistance Center, which can provide confidential legal consultations to members of the USC community.
The USC Immigration Clinic’s Emergency Arrest Hotline is (213) 740-7435.
Two quotes in this article have been corrected to reflect accurate wording. Annenberg Media apologizes for these errors.