Dozens more UC San Diego student visas canceled
The number of international students at UC San Diego whose visas have been revoked has soared to 35 and could be higher, and a student at the University of San Diego has also had their visa canceled, as the Trump administration moves to remove hundreds of international students on campuses nationwide.
Earlier this month, UC San Diego announced that five students had had their F-1 visas canceled without explanation and one student had been deported. Last week, four students at San Diego State University had their visas revoked, too.
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By Wednesday, the number at UC San Diego had risen to at least 35, according to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a federal database managed by the Department of Homeland Security, the school told The San Diego Union-Tribune. The university added that that information was five days old.
“We have also had one student deported,” the school added. “The federal government still has not explained the reasons behind these terminations. The students have been notified and we are working directly with them to provide support.”
The news was first reported Wednesday by The Guardian, a campus newspaper that’s been struggling to survive.
“The lives of the students whose visas have been canceled have been shattered,” Dr. Wael Al-Delaimy, an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health, told the Union-Tribune.
“They came here to get an education and ended up being told to leave without due process. This will increase the fear and anxiety of future students who might wanted to come here,” he added.
That concern was shared by other faculty members at an emotional meeting of the university’s Academic Senate on Tuesday evening,
Some warned the school is under an assault that could discourage many international students from attending.
The school has nearly 7,200 students from other countries, and many are crucial to UC San Diego’s research enterprise, especially in health, medicine and engineering. International students pay more than $40,000 a year in tuition and fees — roughly twice as much as California residents.
The Academic Senate, an advisory body made up of faculty that has little political power, responded to the concerns by passing a nonbinding resolution aimed at the school’s chancellor, Pradeep Khosla. Faculty characterized it as a symbolic expression of their values.
That measure says, in part, that the chancellor should publicly say in writing that he will refuse to comply with any demand from the federal government that isn’t a warrant or subpoena, nor provide identifying information or locations of student, faculty and staff that is motivated by their visa or immigration status or on-campus activities.
The university did not respond to an inquiry about whether Khosla would consider writing such a letter or to a request for an interview. The chancellor has turned down five previous requests.