Seventeen current and former international students from Harvard, UMass Boston and UMass Amherst had their visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s ongoing push to deport international students, according to announcements from the universities’ leadership over the weekend.
Experts say these latest revocations — for reasons that do not appear connected to pro-Palestinian activism — represent a new breakdown in the relationship between the government and higher-ed institutions.
Harvard officials learned of the revocations of three students and two former students “during a routine records review” within the past three days, according to an announcement published Sunday by the school’s International Office.
UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco wrote in an email Saturday that immigration officials had not notified their schools, either. The Office of Global Programs only discovered that the visas of two UMass Boston students and five others, including recent graduates in training programs, had been revoked after checking the Immigration and Customs Enforcement database.
UMass Amherst officials found out the same way, according to a statement sent to GBH News Sunday from a school spokesperson. “The university has no reason to believe these revocations are connected to campus activism,” the spokesperson said. “To protect the privacy of the students, we are not sharing specifics about their situations.”
Gerardo Blanco, the academic director of Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education, says the changes are unprecedented and represent a new breakdown in communication between government and academic institutions.
“What feels really different is just this break of a consensus that the system works better when institutions can communicate with the federal government,” Blanco said. “This is a new escalation, I think it’s definitely a different stage, a higher stage, that sets a new standard.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at a press conference last month that he has personally intervened to cancel around 300 student visas, primarily for alleged involvement in pro-Palestinian protests or because of ties to “potential criminal activity.”
Representatives from Harvard and both UMass Boston and Amherst said they are unsure about the cause of the recent visa cancelations. A UMass Amherst spokesperson told GBH News that “has no reason to believe these revocations are connected to campus activism,” unlike some widely covered student detentions in March.
Tufts international graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk was detained by the Department of Homeland Security in late March, citing Öztürk’s pro-Palestinian activism as grounds for her arrest.
Some of the international students targeted have been involved in on-campus protests, while others have been targeted for misdemeanor crimes, traffic infractions or for reasons that are still not yet clear, Blanco said. He said they make for an easy target given their constant contact with the federal government, few avenues for legal recourse and predictable routines.
“International students are just a very vulnerable and very easy-to-reach population for the goals of meeting quotas of deportations,” Blanco said. “The Trump administration wants record-breaking numbers of deportation that they’re not getting. In many ways, those are difficult to get through raids or other strategies.”
Fearful international students and a heightened political climate “is likely to undermine colleges’ ability to attract talent,” said Fanta Aw, the executive director and CEO of the Association of International Educators. During the first Trump administration, international student enrollment was 12% lower than expected.
“We should never take for granted that international students will keep coming to the United States,” Aw said.
With a lack of definitive answers, Aw said that leaves universities with little power to prevent student arrests.
“I have no doubt that the universities are doing the best they can,” she said. “Having worked with our members who are at universities, they’re incredibly dedicated and committed to making sure that students know their rights and responsibilities — but more importantly, that they’re in compliance when it comes to immigration status.”
Blanco says most universities — particularly private ones — could use a little more leverage in response to student deportations.
“This is the part that is really confusing to me,” he said. “Many higher education institutions, particularly private universities, they are corporations. And in this country, we have decided whether or not we like it, that corporations have the same rights as people, certainly when it comes to political action.”
He argued schools could go without federal funds for a temporary period while standing by their students.
“In many ways, higher education institutions are leaving some of their power on the table by not fighting more assertively,” he said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.
Kirk Carapezza contributed reporting to this article.
