Trump Administration Crackdown: Visas of Over 1,000 Foreign Students Revoked

The U.S. government has revoked the visas or legal status of more than 1,000 foreign students studying in the country over the past few weeks.

According to the Associated Press (AP), this move has placed these students at risk of detention and deportation from the United States.

The report states that within less than a month, visas of at least 1,024 students from around 160 colleges and universities were either cancelled or their legal status was terminated.

Some of the affected students have filed legal petitions with the Department of Homeland Security.

They claim that the action was not taken in accordance with regulations, and that there is no valid justification for revoking their right to stay in the U.S.

The Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and student activism has not been limited to private universities like Harvard and Stanford but has also impacted public institutions such as the University of Maryland and Ohio State University.

Earlier this week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) revealed that visas and immigration statuses of nine of their international students and researchers were cancelled without any prior warning. Meanwhile, the government has threatened to cut funding to universities that do not comply with its directives to suppress student activism.

Harvard University’s $2.3 billion in funding has already been frozen, but the institution has indicated it will challenge the Trump administration's policies.

It is worth noting that after the federal government detained Columbia University activist student Mahmoud Khalil, it stated that it has the right to deport any non-American citizen participating in what it termed “anti-Semitic” protests or demonstrations in support of Palestine.