KU international students worried, questioning place in country after visas revoked nationwide

Some international students at KU say they are shocked and concerned about the federal government terminating international student records and revoking thousands of visas.

It is unclear how many international students have been affected at KU — spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said the university is not sharing specific information on the number of students or how they are affected, but is providing support. 

Nationally, estimates of visa revocations range into the thousands. A map from Inside Higher Ed shows more than 1,700 students who have had their visas revoked nationwide. International students primarily rely on F-1 visas, which are for students at academic institutions, or J-1 visas, for educational and cultural exchange programs. 

Hundreds of thousands of international student visas are approved each year in the U.S. 

Haruka Naito is an international student from Japan and president of the International Student Association at KU. She said she has lived with fear that she could be deported without notice. 

The uncertainty has effects on everyday decisions in Naito’s life, like deciding whether to travel home or sign an apartment lease for another year. She started attending KU’s counseling services to address the anxiety. 

“With the uncertainty and insecurity every day, you can’t concentrate and study so much,” she said.

Naito is a grad student studying inclusive education. But the Trump administration in the last few months has ordered cuts to research funding, closure of the Department of Education and termination of visas for international students, leaving her feeling like much of what drew her to the U.S. in the first place has been destroyed.  

“I was hoping to learn about inclusive education in the States, but there’s nothing,” Naito said. “There’s nothing here now. So, I feel really devastated, like, why am I here?”

According to CNN, visas can be terminated for a wide variety of reasons, including violating laws or providing false information on an application. A visa holder does not have to be charged with a crime before a visa can be terminated. 

Multiple instances of international students being grabbed on the street by federal agents have gone viral online, including one of a Turkish student at Tufts who was approached and handcuffed on the street in Massachusetts. 

A federal judge recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the deportation of 133 international students whose visas were revoked, citing concerns about due process. The lawsuit argues that students were unfairly targeted by the Trump administration for minor or unclear reasons, including dismissed charges and traffic stops. 

Dan Pham has studied in the U.S for seven years after traveling from her home country of Vietnam. She was a high school student in Boston before moving to Kansas, where she studies media arts and production at KU. 

She said her experience has been positive, until lately. In recent months, she’s felt more and more uneasy watching the news of visa revocations across the country unfold. 

“The emotion I have the most is just awestruck,” Pham said. “I cannot believe stuff like this keeps happening. And as an international student who sees everything literally breaking down in the U.S., I’m just awestruck, like, I’m not even scared. The scared emotion is being buried down beneath.”

One big worry is her perception that students have been targeted when they attend protests or speak out on social issues. 

​Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Columbia University graduate student, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities in March due to his role in the university’s pro-Palestine protests last spring. He has not been charged with a crime. 

“Being deported or having our voice be taken away like that — the whole idea of America as sort of the country of freedom is literally shattering in us and is slowly, like, reducing the image of the country of freedom slowly,” Pham said.

A March 27 email sent to international students from Lynn Vanahill, director of KU’s International Support Services, said the ISS had heard from other universities of terminated student records from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, the government’s database for tracking international student visas. The termination of records is happening without the university or student being informed, the email said.  

The email said that about 4,700 records had been terminated nationwide. 

According to the email, the government had not, at that point, terminated any KU students’ records. It is unclear whether any records have been terminated in the weeks since. An April email from ISS to students said it was regularly checking KU SERVIS records and would contact any affected students. 

The ISS did not respond to an email seeking more information and deferred an in-person request for comment to the Office of Public Affairs.

Both Pham and Naito said they wanted KU to be more outspoken in its support of its international students. 

Barcomb-Peterson said affected students at KU have been contacted by ISS and are receiving tailored assistance. She encouraged other students with questions to reach out to ISS directly.

ISS has seen an increased number of students, according to a sign in its office. 

“International students are integral to the university community,” Barcomb-Peterson said. “Students who come to KU from across Kansas and the U.S. benefit from the perspectives and global connections our international students bring the university.”

Pham penned an opinion article in the Kansan student newspaper last week arguing that there are still reasons international students should travel to the U.S. to study. She said she would still recommend it, because of the opportunity to learn about and experience new cultures.

“The only thing that I can only remind them is that they are always having their eyes and ears on everything about the U.S. with the circumstances of this country right now, because it is very hard to predict what is going to happen next,” she said.

Naito’s advice came with a more concise message. 

“Don’t come.”

Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.

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