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The State Department is revoking international student visas over alleged campus activism. But universities report the cancellation extends far beyond these cases, with many other students now facing deportation. Many students tell NPR, their visas were canceled without explanation, raising questions about the true scope and scale of the government's crackdown. NPR's Emily Feng reports.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: In early April, this undergraduate student from India received an email out of the blue from administrators at the Georgia Institute of Technology, telling him...
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: My visa was revoked on 6 of March, 2025.
FENG: Like all of the students in this story, he asked to be anonymous. The students fear being detained and deported by immigration officials and penalized while looking for jobs in the U.S. He thinks his visa issues date back to a traffic incident from last year, where he says he was falsely accused of driving under the influence.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: The case has now just been completely dismissed. Charges have be dismissed. I have been acquitted.
FENG: He'd come to the U.S. last year to study computer science.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: For someone who's never been there and from an Asian country who always grew up there, the U.S. is kind of, like, one of the best countries in the world. I would love to live there.
FENG: But now he's unsure if he'll be allowed to continue his studies and, even if he can, if he wants to stay in the U.S. According to a tally from the publication Inside Higher Ed of public announcements, over 240 universities have reported more than 1,500 students have had their visas suddenly revoked in this manner, many over minor alleged crimes. These figures likely include some of the 300 or so people Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. revoked visas for due to campus activism. Here's Rubio justifying the move.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARCO RUBIO: I think it's stupid for any country in the world to welcome people into their country that are going to go to your universities as visitors - they're visitors - and say, I'm going to your universities to start a riot.
FENG: The State Department said in a statement to NPR that when revoking visas, they look at arrests, criminal convictions and other conduct, quote, "inconsistent with the visa classification."
NPR spoke to and examined the legal cases of more than three dozen international students who had their student visas revoked in March and April. None say they were active in campus activism. Their lawyers say none had ever been convicted of a crime. Some, like this student from China, had faced minor charges once, but all charges were dismissed.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: My criminal lawyers say that even though my cases was dismissed and sealed, the federal government still can see, like, all the records in the past.
FENG: And then in at least one case NPR examined, the student says they never had run-ins with the law, and they have no idea why their visa was pulled. Most of the cases NPR reviewed concern Chinese citizens. Others are Taiwanese, Indian and Iranian. It's unclear whether Chinese students have been disproportionately affected by these visa revocations. China is America's biggest geopolitical competitor but also one of the biggest sources of international students. The Department of Homeland Security told NPR in a statement, these visa revocations are, quote, "nothing new and is part of longstanding protocol and program." And students typically have 10 days to self-deport.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: (Through interpreter) I grew up in mainland China. I didn't know what's democracy, what's freedom of speech. But I knew that they were in the United States.
FENG: This student decided to do her Ph.D. in the U.S. but is facing deportation now over a dispute two years ago with her then-partner. She said she called the police herself because she feared for her safety. But she was charged, though those charges were dismissed. She's asked we even distort her voice because she's scared of retribution for her political views if she's forced to return to China.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: (Through interpreter) I can't study, and I can't do my research because I'm scared. What if ICE comes to my home? What if ICE knocks on my door?
FENG: She says she's in shock and not able to sleep well. When she heard President Trump threatened deportations on the campaign trail last year, she said she was disappointed but not scared for herself at the time. She never expected students like her would be targeted.
Emily Feng, NRR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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