According to an NDTV World report, immigration authorities have launched a sweeping operation revoking student visas from foreign nationals attending America's most prestigious universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and Tufts. The abrupt cancellations, often occurring without prior notice to the affected schools, have targeted both current students and recent graduates, triggering alarm among campus administrators nationwide.
This coordinated enforcement action coincides with the Trump administration's broader initiatives to increase scrutiny of international students. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently acknowledged that approximately 300 or more such visas have been terminated.
"We are still trying to really get a good handle on what is happening, trying to track this and get a better understanding of the scope and breadth of it," said Shev Dalal-Dheini from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
High-profile cases include Turkish PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk from Tufts University, who was detained by federal agents while walking on the street, and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, whose visa was revoked following his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Both remain in immigration detention facilities facing deportation proceedings.
The impact extends across California, where dozens of international students from UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and other prestigious institutions have had their visas terminated. Two students have initiated federal lawsuits claiming their visas were revoked without due process, sometimes for minor infractions like traffic violations.
Stanford confirmed six affected students, while Harvard reported that three current students and two recent graduates had their visas cancelled. Similar cases have emerged at Dartmouth, Minnesota State, Arizona State, and the University of Oregon.
Immigration experts note that while the State Department has long possessed visa revocation authority, the current enforcement wave appears unusually extensive and systematic. The visa cancellations have become a focal point of recent anti-Trump demonstrations, with protesters highlighting cases like Ozturk's and Khalil's as examples of perceived targeting of international students and campus free speech.
Neither the State Department nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement has provided any comment on these developments.
