The Trump administration has revoked more than 6,000 student visas, according to several reports. The U.S. State Department said those students had either overstayed their visa or had otherwise broken the law.
Visas revoked
The reports said the majority of the legal violations were for cases of assault, driving under the influence, burglary and allegations of supporting terrorism.
“Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States,” a senior State Department official said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “About 4,000 visas alone have been revoked because these visitors broke the law while visiting our country, including records of assault and DUIs.”
Roughly 200-300 students lost their visas due to their “support for terrorism.” A State Department official says some allegedly raised money for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.
Another roughly 800 had their visas revoked due to arrests or charges of assault.
Ramping up visa revocation
The State Department told Fox News Digital they’ve pulled around 40,000 visas this year, compared to the 16,000 the Biden administration pulled during the same time frame a year ago.
“Even if the previous administration was doing less, they were still revoking visas,” the State Department official told Fox News Digital. “It’s not something that just started on January 20. So this has happened for years.”
Students who’ve displayed pro-Palestinian sentiments like Rümeysa Öztürk have been detained. She’s a Turkish national and a Ph.D. student at Tufts University who was detained for six weeks for writing a pro-Palestinian op-ed.
Earlier this year, the administration also began revoking visas for Chinese students with connections to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The State Department also paused all student visas for about a month to implement a new policy of social media checks. Applicants must now make their social media feeds public for review.
Trump administration and higher education
Some students and universities have fought back against these policies. Stanford University’s student-run newspaper has sued two senior Trump administration officials for deporting students who spoke against Israel.
The administration has also been in a very public fight with Harvard University, where the administration attempted to ban the university from admitting international students.
Numbers from the State Department show the number of international student visas issued dropped earlier this year.
