What to know about student visa cancellations in Philadelphia
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Federal immigration authorities have revoked the visas of at least four international students at Philadelphia universities.
The big picture: They're among the roughly 400 international students nationwide who've had their visas revoked by the Trump administration in the last few weeks, igniting concerns about First Amendment and immigration rights.
- The Trump administration has claimed that some of those impacted lost their status because they were affiliated with pro-Palestinian protests. For some, revocation was attributed to a crime or traffic offense and for others the reason is unknown.
Zoom in: At least three international students at the University of Pennsylvania had their visas revoked, as did a student at Temple University, WHYY reports.
- UPenn said in a statement that the revocations appear to be related to "immigration status violations" and "not connected to the 2024 campus protests."
- The Temple student who had their visa revoked by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio chose to leave the country voluntarily.
Catch up quick: Schools across the country learned that some students abruptly had their visas revoked without explanation.
- This comes weeks after the Trump administration made international headlines for detaining Columbia University graduates and Tufts University student Rumeysa Öztürk over pro-Palestinian activism.
What they're saying: UPenn is monitoring students' visa statutes daily. Katharine Strunk, the dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education, warned in an email that the first round of revocations "may not be the last."
- Pennsylvania State Rep. Tarik Khan, a UPenn alumnus, told the Daily Pennsylvanian it was "despicable to watch the attack on our freedoms by this regime, including at Penn — these assaults are radical and un-American."
How it works: International applicants who are accepted into U.S. colleges must obtain a visa and follow strict rules to study here, Mona Zafar Khan, a Boston-area immigration attorney, told Axios.
- Their visas can be revoked if they violate those rules — working off campus without permission or failing to maintain a full class load — or if they're charged with a crime.
Yes, but: Even students whose visas are revoked can get them reinstated as long as five months later if they meet certain requirements, Khan says.
- That's why a visa revocation rarely means their visa status in the online database is terminated, attorneys say.
Threat level: Students now live in fear of being detained and deported and not knowing why their visa was revoked — a practice that until now was unheard of, Khan tells Axios.
- That fear is even more palpable for international students who have spoken out on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By the numbers: Penn has more than 9,100 international students and scholars enrolled this academic year, per the school.
- Temple says it has more than 3,000 international students from more than 130 counties.
What we're watching: If the widespread student visa revocations continue, universities that rely on high tuition fees from international students could suffer financially.
- An estimated 1 million international students generate more than $40 billion for American higher education each year, per The World.