CHARLOTTESVILLE — The University of Virginia last week joined the growing list of U.S. colleges where international students have had their visas canceled under the Trump administration.
UVa announced Friday that one international student has had their visa revoked.
Neither the identity nor the nationality of the student was disclosed.
UVa offered no explanation for why immigration officials had targeted the student.
“We do not know the specific reason for the status change and cannot offer any further details related to the student,” university spokeswoman Bethanie Glover told The Daily Progress in an email Tuesday.
Glover did confirm, however, that UVa learned about the visa revocation after checking the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, a monitoring system used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to manage information regarding international students and scholars residing in the country.
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Glover
Glover said UVa is monitoring the situation and has been in communication with the student to offer support.
UVa is the first Virginia university to publicly announce an international student had their visa revoked amid a wave of such revocations sweeping the nation’s college campuses. Private universities, including Harvard and Stanford, and public ones, such as the universities of Colorado and Michigan, have all had students targeted. Northeastern University in Boston last week said that roughly 40 students and recent graduates have had their visas revoked by the U.S. State Department.
Early into his second term, President Donald Trump announced plans to rid American colleges of students who espouse antisemitic views or are engaged in pro-Palestinian activism. The policy aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to expel people who are in the U.S. illegally, a move that has since left the administration in a legal quagmire.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian activist who was a Columbia University graduate student until December of last year, was the first to be thrust into the national spotlight after Trump officials accused him of engaging in “activities aligned to Hamas,” a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that claimed the lives of 1,200 people in Israel and the subsequent war that has killed more than 50,000 people in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Since Khalil’s arrest on March 8, other students have either been detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or left the country voluntarily to avoid deportation.
In a statement issued Friday announcing the UVa student’s visa status, university Chief Human Resources Officer John Kosky emphasized the importance of international students on Grounds.
“Our international community stands as a remarkable source of strength and vibrancy at the University, and your presence on Grounds makes critical contributions to our research, teaching, clinical care, and public service missions,” Kosky said. “You are an integral part of our community and essential to our status as a global university and we are committed to doing all we can to support you during these challenging times.”
Kosky encouraged international students and scholars at UVa who might be concerned about their immigration status to get in touch with an adviser in UVa’s International Student & Scholar Program. Those who need personal support can contact Care and Support Services, part of UVa Student Health and Wellness, he said.
