Melissa is two weeks away from graduating with a degree in supply chain management from the University of Houston. She maintains a good grade point average and doesn’t get in trouble. She’d like to eventually pursue a master’s degree at a Texas university. But there’s a problem. She wasn’t born in the United States.
Melissa, who did not want us to use her real name, is one of about 4,500 international students enrolled at UH, a Tier One research university. When approached by a reporter last week who asked if she knew anyone who was concerned about their immigration status being revoked, Melissa’s eyes widened.
“Me,” she said.
The Trump administration’s sweeping immigration policies — once billed as a way to ensure safety from violent criminals and gang members — have now extended to Texas college students trying to further their education and the professors who teach them.
Federal authorities have terminated the academic status of more than 260 students at Texas universities, including about a dozen at the University of Houston. Officials at the private Rice University, where 40 percent of the graduate student population is international, have said visas were revoked from three current students and two recent graduates. As is the case with many of President Trump’s policies, they are ever-changing, mired in uncertainty and chaos.
Students say the visa terminations are showing up in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System database, maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. The website features a hotline where people can report “student visa fraud or nonimmigrant students working unlawfully in the U.S.”
But experts say the student visa revocation is a poorly executed inside job from the federal government; it isn’t likely provoked by individuals snitching on a hotline.
Rice University political science professor Robert Stein, a Baker Fellow and expert in urban politics, public policy and social sciences, said there’s a big drawback for universities losing a portion of their student population.
“It sends the wrong signal that foreign people aren’t welcome,” he said, noting that universities rely on revenue from international student tuition and research funding. “It compounds the problem because the federal government is indiscriminately and discriminately cutting back the funding for higher education.”
UH student Casey Le (not her real name) has an “F-1” student visa, which allows international students to enter the United States to pursue academic studies. It’s temporary and requires students to maintain full-time enrollment and “demonstrate ties to their home country, indicating an intent to return after completing their studies,” according to university documents. Le said she’ll graduate next semester and return to her home country of Vietnam. She said she’d heard about people losing their student visas in other states but it hasn’t happened to anyone she knows in Houston.
Students who lose their status can either leave the country immediately or request reinstatement through the Department of Homeland Security. They may be able to continue their studies online once their status as a student is restored but this is uncharted territory and no one we talked to had an answer for how that might work.
“A lot of people are concerned,” said an 18-year-old freshman electrical engineering major during a break between classes. “Recently, there was a guy who was deported but he was here legally.”
The student was likely referring to the controversial case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man wrongly moved last month to a notoriously dangerous prison in El Salvador despite being legally in this country and having no criminal charges. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has said Ábrego García will remain in his country’s custody. Some Trump supporters have criticized Abrego Garcia’s possible affiliation with the MS-13 gang; critics of the deportation, such as Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who visited the prisoner last week, have said he was “illegally abducted” from Maryland.
Stein said the news of Abrego Garcia’s deportation has had a “chilling effect” on foreign-born nationals who are working in this country. The fear extends far beyond college campuses, the professor said.
“I think that’s the intention, to scare as many people from staying in the United States, even if they’re perfectly legal,” he said. “It’s going to be really difficult because at some point, you do need that labor. We are at a dearth of employable people who can work in the skilled labor force.
“My sense is that the President has an idea of what he wants, sort of an America of the 1950s.”
“My sense is that the President has an idea of what he wants, sort of an America of the 1950s,” said Stein, 74, who grew up on Long Island. It seems the president’s vision is of an America where Black and brown people don’t intermingle with white people, Stein added.
“I think the world changed and the President is finding it hard to adjust to that,” he said. “You can’t build a global economy like that. At some point, we’re going to have to open our eyes. It will have consequences.”
It was originally believed that some of the university students whose visas were revoked were targeted for participating in protests against the war in Gaza. Officials with the immigrant-led civil rights group FIEL Houston have maintained that basic rights such as freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial apply to anyone living in the United States, despite their status. FIEL Houston Executive Director Cesar Espinoza said foreign-born students should reach out to an immigration attorney even if they haven’t been notified of changes in their status.
“It’s like getting ready for a hurricane. You don’t want it to happen, but if it does happen, you want to be ready for it,” he said. “You want to make sure you have options for whatever happens next.
“We’re living in unprecedented times and a lot of people are scared of losing their status,” he continued. “All the people who are here on some sort of visa have already gone through a vetting process. Now, being here and doing what they came here to do, and getting the rug pulled from under them, is very nerve-wracking. For the majority, if not all of them it’s a life-altering experience. We feel that, as in other movements this administration has done, they’re trying to set a precedent so people will just leave on their own.”
Melissa didn’t join any pro-Palestine protests but is still anxious about her immigration status. She said she’s trying to lay low and not catch the attention of anyone who might be able to target her.
“Everything’s happening right now,” she said. “I’ve never had any issues; everyone is welcoming, but I thought maybe because some people participated in protests, they may be targeted. For me, it’s not really my country, so I chose not to participate because I don’t belong here.”
Because the student visa revocation now appears to be arbitrary, most international students aren’t comfortable talking, even in generic terms, about what’s happening. A woman at Rice University’s Office of International Students and Scholars on Thursday acknowledged that students are afraid but refused to give her name or any other information.
“I don’t know you,” she said when asked for her name. “I’ve never seen you before.”
A small protest held last week at the UH campus drew students, faculty members and union leaders who said they showed up on behalf of those who feared consequences if they participated. Espinoza was there and said he conveyed to attendees that anyone on American soil has rights. In the Mexican culture, it’s customary for a child to say to an authority figure, “Mande,” or, “Tell me what to do,” Espinoza said. As distrust for those in authority heightens, FIEL is trying to remove that saying from the vocabulary of young people.
“At least in my household with my 7-year-old, that word is forbidden. We say, Yes? or, What do you need? We’re trying to break that cycle of authoritarianism,” he said.
The lack of trust is pervasive on college campuses. None of the dozen or so students we spoke to who were born in foreign countries agreed to be photographed or use their real names. The fears are valid. ABC News in Utah reported that a Brigham Young University Ph.D. student’s visa was terminated due to his “criminal background.” The student, Suguru Onda, had two speeding tickets and a citation for fishing that was later dismissed, his attorney claims.
Houston-based immigration attorney Charles Foster said it appears the federal government, under orders from Trump, may be using artificial intelligence to flag student visa-holders who have had “some minor interaction with law enforcement.”
“This started with several high-profile cases where students or those who had participated in student protests were arrested and, in some cases, removed, simply because they had participated in protests in sympathy with Palestinians and Gaza, and that was interpreted as interference in American foreign policy,” Foster said. “It turned out that none of the individuals actually were members of Hamas or advocating for Hamas; they were simply expressing concerns about the plight of the Palestinians and Gaza.”
Nevertheless, Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a bold position, saying no one is entitled to a student visa.
“If you come into my home and put all kinds of [expletive deleted] on my couch, I’m going to kick you out of my house. And so that’s what we’re doing with our country, thanks to the President.”
“The press covers student visas like they’re some kind of birthright,” Rubio said at an event covered by Newsweek. “No, a student visa is like me inviting you into my home. If you come into my home and put all kinds of [expletive deleted] on my couch, I’m going to kick you out of my house. And so that’s what we’re doing with our country, thanks to the President.”
But the high-profile cases involving students who were arrested at protests are the exception, Foster explained. Many of the international students in limbo have had a minor encounter with law enforcement “that had no legal impact on their student status,” he said.
“From looking at these cases, which I have, one could scratch your head and say, How did this happen? It makes no sense,” he said. “The only thing I can figure is some 19-year-old genius put together an AI algorithm, some AI program, that searched all the student databases, the SEVIS records, and compared that with the interagency database that contains a lot of information including records from every local, city, state, national and foreign law enforcement agency. They compared those two and any time there was a hit, no matter the substance, the program was automatically designed to revoke their student status.”
Foster said he believes those revocations were issued in error.
“The students have the right to apply for reinstatement,” he said. “In some cases, they are doing that. In some cases, they are without counsel or are just going home or making other arrangements. It just depends on the student and their capacity and willingness to stay and seek reinstatement.”
Fear Among International Students
Students hanging around the UH Office of International Student and Scholar Services last week said they’d heard about Hyeongseon Jeon, a math professor from South Korea who told students on April 13 that his visa was terminated and he’d have to return to his home country to resolve the matter.
“Due to the unexpected termination of my visa — an issue that has recently impacted many international scholars — I must return to Korea immediately to resolve my immigration status,” Jeon wrote to his students through an in-campus messaging system.
It’s unclear whether any Rice faculty members have been targeted. A woman who works at the Office of International Students and Scholars spoke briefly about the fear among international students.
“We’re hearing. We’re listening. We’re prioritizing the mental health of our own community,” she said. “There’s so much uncertainty and it’s so nuanced. We are broken records, saying that we are here to help but we don’t have answers.”
Stefan Johnsson, associate director of UH’s International Student & Scholar Services Office, declined comment last week, referring questions to the university’s marketing and communications office. Director of Media Relations Bryan Luhn said a “small number” of international students have been affected by SEVIS terminations and/or visa revocations. The university’s practice is to notify students directly when changes occur, “and we have proactively communicated the importance of maintaining compliance with immigration laws and continue to offer guidance,” Luhn said in a written statement.
As the number of affected students continues to rise, it will discourage bright, highly-talented young people from coming to America to pursue their education, said Foster, the immigration attorney.
“For those that are here, it clearly has an intimidation factor in terms of exercising their First Amendment rights and for fear that some minor infraction of the law could result in the cancellation of their student status and visa,” he said.
“I hope the administration, rather than digging in their heels, will look at these cases on an individual basis and if there’s no [infraction], reinstate the student and do so on a timely basis,” he said. “Even though they can stay, for those students who may choose to seek reinstatement, they can stay enrolled in the classes, but they lose a lot of benefits. They cannot travel outside the U.S. because they would not be able to return.”
Espinoza said he’s already heard from students who are questioning whether they want to stay.
“Internationally, it’s sending a signal of don’t come here; you’re not welcome in the U.S. For people who are already here, it’s saying, we don’t want you here and we’re going to send you out,” he said. “There are mistakes in these situations. Somebody might have entered an email wrong. At the end of the day, we worry that some people might be removed accidentally.”
A Path Forward
Espinoza said that people who are in this country on a student visa are, “for the most part, just trying to better their lives.”
“For a student visa, you have to prove that you or your family can take care of all of your expenses while you’re here. It’s not a handout or a humanitarian deal,” he said.
Echoing Stein about the effect on Texas colleges and universities, Foster said the schools may be panicking about the potential loss of funding if international students are removed in droves.. It also limits the college experience for students of all backgrounds, he added.
“That’s part of the educational experience, the diversity, to meet people outside of one part of town or one part of the state, to broaden your perspective with the international students. But there’s something else too. All universities benefit from foreign students, particularly those who seek advanced degrees, in terms of the research they do and the funds they attract. Foreign students do not pay in-state tuition. They pay premium registration fees. To some degree, for some universities, foreign students actually subsidize the education of in-state students.”
Foster said Trump’s policies are tarnishing the reputation of American universities as the gold standard for higher education.
“The proof in the pudding is that I’ve already gotten reports that students who were going to enroll and attend school are changing their minds,” he said. “The cases that are being publicized have a big ripple effect.”
Reports have indicated that once someone’s immigration status is terminated, they have to leave the United States immediately and not return, though that doesn’t seem to be the case in some instances. Jeon, the UH math professor, told his students on a Sunday that his immigration status had been revoked but he was able to teach a class two days later before catching a plane to South Korea. He said he’d be back next semester.
Foster reiterated that those who are notified they’ve been dropped from the system have an option to lawyer up and fight.
“In the end, it will always depend on the facts of the individual cases, and there are some cases, and I think it would be a small percentage, where the student could have some kind of serious legal issue in terms of maintaining their status,” he said. “For those where it does not appear that there was any basis for the revocation of their status, they can apply for reinstatement. It can be a rather lengthy process. It also depends on the institution. Ironically, to apply for reinstatement, you must remain enrolled in school.”
Foster said the government’s removal of international students sends a signal that foreign students will be heavily scrutinized and “that any minor infraction could subject them to removal or deportation, that they have to censor their remarks on social media, that they should not participate in any type of activity that would be deemed adverse to the administration and essentially restrict some very basic rights.”
“If you look at the Constitution, which I do periodically, it does not refer to citizens. It refers to people,” he said. “Students, just like U.S. citizens, are guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, freedom of expression and the right to peacefully gather. From a broad policy point of view, it’s sending the wrong message.”
It’s an unprecedented situation, so university officials say they’re learning how to navigate it as they go. So are the students.
“I’ve never seen this happen,” Melissa said. “I’ve never heard of a student having their visa taken away until now. We don’t know the reason. It doesn’t make sense. It’s scary.”
![Can Students Who’ve Had Their Immigration Status Revoked Still Finish Courses Remotely? [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/international_student_office.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
