The State Department continues to revoke visas for international students, including five at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“The university has learned that, throughout the course of this week and as of tonight, five international students have had their visas revoked and student statuses terminated by the federal government. I regret sending this news so late on a Friday; given that we learned of some of these revocations this evening, I felt it important to share this troubling news at this time,” Chancellor Javier Reyes lamented in an open letter to the UMass community last week.
“These actions have been attributed by federal authorities to alleged incidents, in some cases, as minor as off-campus traffic violations. In the past, students’ legal statuses in the United States were not immediately canceled due to a revoked visa. Under the new administration, in some cases, student statuses are being revoked within hours of the visa’s revocation.”
📍Amherst, MA
— Wid Lyman (@Wid_Lyman) April 9, 2025
More International Student's Visas Have Been Revoked By The State Department
"The university has learned that, throughout the course of this week and as of tonight, five international students have had their visas revoked and student statuses terminated by the…
Reyes, a Mexican-born economist, reminded readers that UMass established the Angel Fund Emergency Grant in 2017 “to help meet the legal, academic, housing, living and counseling needs of students who are adversely affected by changes in federal immigration.”
He urged any students who are contacted by the federal government to notify the UMass Office of Global Affairs for advice and assistance.
“I want to stress how important our international community is to the vitality of our campus and assure every international student and scholar at UMass of our unwavering support as we confront this new reality,” Reyes wrote.
“Attracting students from every corner of the globe, higher education in the United States has always been the envy of the world. Like so many others, I came to the United States to study through the student visa program.”
Hundreds of student visas have been revoked by the Trump administration since the beginning of the year.
“No one is entitled to a student visa. The press covers student visas like they’re some sort of birthright,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Marco Rubio: "No one's entitled to a student visa. The press covers student visas like they're some sort of birthright." pic.twitter.com/NuluD00i5M
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 10, 2025
State Dept. Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the Trump administration has no plans to reveal “statistics or numbers” pertaining to visa revocations.
“We take the border seriously. We take the visa process seriously. And the number of revocations I can say is dynamic, which is why we don’t give those numbers out. And again, we – we’re not going to give statistics, only because of always the continuing fluidity of the situation when it comes to visas and the reasons they are revoked, which is personal and private,” Bruce stated on Thursday.
Border Hawk senior correspondent Wid Lyman contributed to this report.