0
The United States Department revoked more than six thousand visas of international students for violations of the country’s law and permanence beyond the allowed time, the folder told the BBC.
The agency said the “vast majority” of violations involved aggression, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, theft and “terrorism support.”
The measure happens while Donald Trump’s government maintains its offensive against immigration and international students.
Why the United States canceled visas of 6,000 students/Photo: Reproduction
Although the State Department did not specify what it meant by “support for terrorism,” the Trump government aimed some students who participated in protests in support of Palestine, claiming that they would have expressed anti -Semitic behaviors.
Of the six thousand visas of students who were revoked, the State Department said about four thousand were due to the breach of the law.
Another 200 to 300 visas were also canceled by “terrorism provided for in Ina 3B,” according to the folder, in reference to a code that defines “terrorist activity” broadly, such as acts that endanger human life or violate US law.
Earlier this year, the Trump government suspended the schedule of interviews for visas from international students. In June, when he resumed the process, he announced that all candidates should make their profiles on social networks for a more rigorous screening.
According to the government, the objective was to seek “any evidence of hostility against citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”
State Department officials have also received instructions to identify people “who defend, assist or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who practice harassment or illegal anti -Semitic violence.”
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told parliamentarians in May that estimated that “thousands” of students visas had been revoked since January.
“I don’t know the latest number, but we probably have more to do,” Rubio told the US Congress on May 20. “We will continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as invited and are disturbing our higher education institutions.”
Democrats criticized Trump’s effort to revoke students visas, describing him as an attack on due process.
More than 1.1 million international students from more than 210 countries were enrolled in US colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to Open Doors, an organization that collects data on foreign students.
