The persecution of the Donald Trump government continues to foreign students. The University of California (UC), the largest educational center in the State, has recognized that the administration has revoked several students on its ten campus. “It is a fluid situation and we continue to monitor the implications for the university community and those affected,” said the university in a brief statement issued on Friday afternoon. About twenty students have been affected by the policies of the Republican Administration, who of the students who have been part of the proper mobilizations or who have committed minor crimes during their stay in the country.
At least eight international students from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have been affected by the authorities’ decision, according to Los Angeles Times. This campus was the heart of the numerous protests that were made last year to repudiate the conflict in the Middle East and demand from Israel a ceasefire in Gaza. It was also the Educational Center of California, because there was a clash between students and a group of Proisraeli provocaters. After this, the riot police disassembled the camp.
Michael Drake, the president of the University Network, published on Friday a brief statement aimed at the community in which he pointed out the institution’s commitment to help students affected to “exercise their rights.” The UC system is under great pressure since Washington threatened to cut the financing of academic centers that contemplate diversity and inclusion policies, something that has been part of the institution’s DNA, which includes within its vast network to five hospitals and three laboratories nations of scientific research.
The Department of Justice announced at the end of March that it would carry out an investigation at the Universities of California, including UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and Stanford, to determine if these were adjusted to dictated by the Trump government. This argues that whites have been disadvantaged by years of positive discrimination practices. California, however, abolished three decades ago the breed considerations in the admissions process to its higher education centers.
Other rectors of the system have shown an urgent concern about the situation. Pradeep Khosla, from UC San Diego, has confirmed that the visa of five foreign students has been revoked in recent days. A sixth student was arrested at the border. He was prevented from entering the United States and has been deported back to his country of origin, without indicating what he is.
Khosla states that the university did not receive any warning. “The federal government has not explained the reasons behind the cancellations of these visas,” said the rector on Friday in a message to the university community. The Administration did not communicate the cancellation of the visas, but it was the university authorities who realized these when reviewing a database of foreign students that is controlled by the National Security Department.
The revocation of the visa of exchange students has not only affected public centers. Stanford, the reputed private university located in Palo Alto, has also confirmed that four of its students and two recently graduates have run out of legal stay permits in the United States.
It was the, a student from the University of Columbia and the Propalestinian activist, who focused on the persecution of the authorities who have shown their sympathy for Gaza in the mobilizations of 2024. Despite the great scandal that caused the arrest of Khalil, the Trump administration redoubled its commitment to deactivate the dissent in the American campuses. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, confirmed it at the end of March at a visit to Guyana. “We do it every day, whenever we find one of these lunatics, we remove the visa,” said the official.
The government seems to have now expanded the focus. In addition to the proper activities, which has caused the revocation of visas in Columbia, Cornell, George Washington and Tufts, the infractions and minor crimes, including traffic fines, are enough for visas to be annulled. Those affected receive an internal security order in their emails to leave the United States immediately, according to the AP agency.
This has happened this week with five students from the University of Minnesota. These had been arrested in traffic incidents and had failed the breathalyzer tests. There is still knowing the reasons that will avoid the students of California to return to the classrooms.
