Condemning the Trump Administration’s Terrorizing Students with Unlawful Visa Cancellations

Middle East Studies Association Board | –

The MESA Board of Directors and the MESA Task Force on Civil and Human Rights call on all U.S. universities and colleges to heed the Trump administration’s reversal of the unlawful mass visa revocations that have terrorized international students and scholars in recent weeks. We urge campus administrations to immediately inform their communities and recent alumni that international students and scholars remain legally entitled to stay in the United States.

On April 25, following more than 100 lawsuits against the administration, the Department of Justice announced it would reverse course. This reversal was no doubt a response to the fact that courts across multiple jurisdictions issued restraining orders finding the administration’s actions likely unlawful, citing arbitrary practices, violations of existing legal requirements and the failure to afford basic procedural protections.

The lesson is clear: the administration’s strategy of shock and awe aims to destabilize through unlawful overreach, forcing affected individuals and institutions to expend enormous resources to assert their rights. The legality of actions is almost irrelevant if fear induces voluntary compliance.

Complying with lawless demands amounts to a voluntary forfeiture of legal and constitutional rights and risks irreversible damage that might otherwise have been avoided. We warn university and college administrators against the self-inflicted harm that comes from failing to challenge unprecedented actions by the government in the context of its chaotic immigration policies and its broader attack on higher education. Instead, universities must assert constitutional rights, reinforce legal constraints on executive action, and, where necessary, pursue defensive litigation.

Over the past month, the Trump administration revoked the visas of thousands of foreign students and scholars. As of April 28, MESA recorded 1,674 revocations among current students and recent alumni on temporary (Optional Practical Training) employment—undoubtedly an undercount, as this figure relies on open-source data from university statements, campus newspapers, local journalism, and lawsuits. MESA’s data show that visa revocations affected over 200 schools in 44 states, spanning public and private institutions. Impacted students come from at least 24 countries.

The administration’s method of communicating visa revocations was shrouded in secrecy: rather than notifying students directly, it deleted their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the government database regulating student visa holders, forcing universities to convey this change to students often without a clear understanding of its implications. Since students cannot access SEVIS directly, this maneuver conscripted colleges into the administration’s campaign of intimidation. Most were informed of their revoked visas without explanation. Some were allegedly flagged through “criminal records checks” for minor, dismissed, or even dropped charges.

Crucially, termination of a SEVIS record does not affect a student’s lawful status inside the U.S., a fact the government has now acknowledged in court filings. Yet government communications blurred this distinction, misleading students and institutions into conflating SEVIS terminations with loss of legal status. It must be emphasized: a visa grants entry into the U.S., but lawful status once inside is separate. Termination of a SEVIS record or visa revocation does not require immediate departure; it only necessitates obtaining a new visa if one leaves and seeks reentry.

The revocations triggered mass panic on campuses, often exacerbated by inaccurate university communications. Examples include:

• Johns Hopkins University barred affected students from “non-public areas of University property”, presumably including dormitories, stating DHS had instructed them to leave the country.
• Duke University asserted students with SEVIS terminations could no longer study or work legally in the U.S.
• Virginia Tech urged immediate departure after nine students had SEVIS terminations.
• The University at Buffalo (SUNY) told impacted students and alumni that departure was “required.”

We know that some students “self-deported” due to misinformation and fear, and actual numbers are likely far higher than what has been reported to date. While it may be too late to undo all the harm for those who have left, universities must immediately cease any adverse actions based on SEVIS terminations and support students in completing their education whenever possible.

Even as the visa revocations have been reversed and new visa policies are under review, the damage is lasting. International students are now less likely to apply to U.S. institutions. Universities have been warned they risk punitive exclusion from the government program that allows them to admit students on visas, as exemplified by threats against Harvard. Students, advocates, and institutions have borne enormous costs defending basic legal rights—and a new, troubling baseline has been set.

In response to these acute harms, the MESA Board of Directors and Task Force on Civil and Human Rights call on the U.S. government to cease manipulating the student visa system. We further demand that any visa policy reviews prioritize the original purpose of these programs: facilitating the lawful admission of foreign students, scholars, and visitors to the United States.

At a time when the government has made clear its willingness to abuse immigration laws, we remind universities and colleges that they owe heightened protections to members of their campus communities. The MESA Board of Directors and Task Force on Civil and Human Rights reiterates its demand that university and college administrations take the following basic steps to protect community members from arbitrary government action: 

1. Refuse to turn over personal student information in response to Title VI investigations;
2. Make a clear commitment to avoid voluntary cooperation or information sharing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies charged with facilitating deportation or immigration enforcement;
3. Reject compliance with Section 3 of Executive Order 13899, which calls for universities to voluntarily “monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff;”
4. Maintain the enrollment of international students in the event of visa revocation, legal status termination, detention, and/or deportation;
5. Allow impacted international students and scholars to continue their studies and research remotely, when necessary;
6. Ensure that graduate students and workers whose enrollment is contingent upon funding through graduate teaching appointments or fellowships can continue their coursework, research, and teaching appointments;
7. Communicate reliable, timely information to international students and scholars, including immediate notification of changes in their SEVIS status;
8. Provide and pay for legal counsel for those students and scholars whose visas have been revoked;
9. Work swiftly and affirmatively—through lawsuits, if necessary—to stop the termination of legal status of students and scholars without any due process and to defend students and scholars from their campus who have been detained.

Finally, in this climate of escalating fear, we reaffirm our commitment to our membership to continue to act as a resource in their defense, and in defense of freedom of speech, academic freedom, and constitutional rights.