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‘Turning campuses into places of fear’: Jayapal questions student visa cancellations
With over 1,800 students' visas revoked and 4,736 having legal status terminated, the Indian American lawmaker called enforcement as politically motivated.
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Pranavi Sharma - Fri, 02, May 2025
- 03:44 EDT
- 106
Rep. Pramila Jayapal. / Facebook
Representative Pramila Jayapal and 142 other members of Congress have accused the Donald Trump administration of turning university campuses into “places of fear” through heavy-handed immigration enforcement targeting foreign students.
In a letter addressed to officials at the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State on May.1, the lawmakers demanded answers on the widespread revocation of student visas and termination of legal status, practices they say lack transparency and violate federal regulations.
Trump’s canceling of student visas isn’t about national security.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) May 1, 2025
It’s about stifling political dissent, restricting due process, and enforcing an exclusionary vision of America. It’s wrong.
I’m proud to be leading 142 of my colleagues in demanding answers. pic.twitter.com/LwOSRnOOtJ
The letter follows reports that more than 1,800 students and recent graduates at 280 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked. Additionally, DHS has confirmed that since Jan.20, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has terminated the legal status of at least 4,736 students in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
While ICE recently adjusted its policy to stop immediately deporting students, those affected are still barred from re-entering the country, as the State Department has not reinstated their visa status.
“This is not about national security. It is about using immigration enforcement as a weapon to stifle political dissent, restrict due process, and enforce an exclusionary and nativist vision of America that runs counter to everything our institutions of higher learning stand for,” wrote the lawmakers. “Across the country, students are being picked up – in some cases by masked immigration agents in unmarked cars – and being held in detention facilities with no warning and limited information as to why they are being deported.”
The lawmakers criticized the administration for allegedly using Artificial Intelligence tools to comb through students’ social media activity to identify targets, a practice they described as “especially troubling” due to the high error rates of AI facial recognition—particularly when applied to people of color—and the anonymity of many online accounts.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly stated that student visa revocations are occurring daily, estimating the total at “more than 300” as of late March. However, the letter points out that Rubio has not explained how students are selected for revocation or what legal processes are followed.
The lawmakers argue that DHS lacks the authority to terminate student status in most cases, citing federal regulation 8 C.F.R. § 214.1(d), which limits status termination to narrowly defined circumstances. “If ICE fails to comply with the requirements set forth… then those terminations are unlawful,” the letter states.
Adding to concerns, university officials report that ICE has, in some cases, failed to notify students or their institutions about visa terminations, forcing schools to monitor SEVIS in real time and alert students to changes as they happen.
In one widely reported incident, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Fulbright Scholar pursuing her Ph.D. at Tufts University, was detained by six plainclothes ICE agents outside her apartment in Massachusetts on Mar. 25. She was not charged with any crime and was flown over 1,000 miles to a detention facility in Louisiana without access to legal counsel.
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