By Universities across the country have seen the sudden revocation of visas for international student populations, including six revocations at Long Beach State and one deportation.
Last week, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley confirmed six international students had their visas revoked within one week, including one student who was deported to Japan from an airport in Honolulu.
At the time of the publication of this article, the number of revocations at CSULB remains the same.
According to CSU officials, 70 students across the CSU system’s 23 campuses have had visas revoked.
“This is totally unprecedented. It has never happened before in my career of 30-plus years in international education,” Jeet Joshee, CSULB International Education and Global Engagement associate vice president, said.
Joshee has served as the AVP for the university for 14 years, overseeing all international students and faculty.
There are several agencies in the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, with the authority to cancel a student visa. However, in the past, it was largely the university’s responsibility to cancel a student’s visa if the terms had been violated.
“The system is set up so that we do that for students,” Joshee said. “It’s not the other way around. Somebody out there is doing this, and we have no idea why.”
Joshee said the cancellations are likely coming from the DHS and the university is only made aware of the change in students’ status by manually logging into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a database that tracks international students.
Currently, there is a designated staff member who checks for terminations each morning on SEVIS.
For students whose visas have been recently terminated, the university notified them, not the federal government.
“We send out an email and ask the student to reach out to an adviser,” Joshee said. “We sit down with them and explain to the extent that we can because we don’t know exactly why this is being done either.”
According to Conoley, the university has supported the students, helping them obtain legal counsel. Conoley said the university does not plan to disenroll the students.
Joshee said the university is bracing for more terminations and a negative effect on the future enrollment of international students.
“There will be more. To what extent, it’s very hard to say,” Joshee said. “It certainly doesn’t send a very positive message. International students who want to study here will think twice.”
International student population breakdown
Only 14% of international students are a part of the Optional Training Program, which provides students with an extension of their visa to participate in a 1-3 year occupation training after graduation. Graphic credit: Linsey Towles.
At CSULB, there is a total international population of 2,486 on visas, according to Joshee.
There are 2,150 students with F-1 visas. This is a non-immigrant visa that allows an individual to enter the United States to pursue full-time academic studies at an accredited institution.
There are 336 people with J-1 visas, which are non-immigrant visas for international participants in work and study-based exchange programs.
Of the six students at CSULB with terminated visas, two were under J-1 visas and three had F-1 visas.
University officials once again confirmed the students were seemingly chosen at random, with no connecting factors between them.
