A growing number of international students attending Texas universities have had their visas revoked by the U.S. government as part of a nationwide crackdown on student activism at public campuses.
According to data compiled by and Texas Newsroom partners around the state, at least 115 students and recent graduates in Texas have had their legal status changed by the U.S Department of State over the last few weeks. They鈥檙e among more than 600 people nationwide caught in a wave of visa revocations.
At Texas A&M University, officials confirmed that at least 19 international students have had their visas revoked. Similarly, at least 62 students and graduates at the University of Texas have had their visas canceled at campuses in , Dallas, San Antonio, Arlington and El Paso. At least four students at Texas Woman's University, three at Texas Tech University and 27 students at the University of North Texas are facing similar revocations.
In an interview with , Houston-based attorney Jarred Slater said two international students reached out to him this week for representation: one from the University of Houston and another from Webster University in San Antonio.
The total number of impacted students is unknown, as many universities have declined to provide specifics to journalists. Texas has one of the largest populations of international students in the country, with more than 76,000, according to .
Schools like Rice University and the University of Houston both declined to give any numbers, although UH spokesperson Bryan Luhn said 鈥渁 small number鈥� of international students have been impacted. Additionally, while many universities haven鈥檛 commented on individual cases, school officials say they鈥檝e been in contact with impacted students.
"Our practice is to notify these students directly of these changes," Luhn said.
In many cases, the federal government has offered little to no explanation for the visa revocations. Students often receive abrupt notifications and are thrust into sudden deportation proceedings. School officials have confirmed that some Texas students have .
This comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the federal government would revoke the visas of students who participate in any movement that vandalizes or causes disruptions on university campuses.
"We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses," Rubio said.
More than a hundred people at UT Austin were after students erected encampments in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Similar demonstrations happened at UT Dallas and ; at least 20 students were arrested at UT Dallas.
During a virtual press conference on Thursday, Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, said she believed that the growing number of revocations could become a slippery slope as the federal government continues deportation efforts.
鈥淚t started with students who were expressing certain kinds of political speech, but then I think it sort of opened the door to looking at student visas in general,鈥� Shebaya said.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on exactly how many visas are expected to be revoked due to the 鈥渃ontinuing fluidity of the situation,鈥� adding that the total number of expected revocations was "dynamic.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 discuss individual visas because of the privacy issues involved. We don鈥檛 go into statistics or numbers; we don鈥檛 go into the rationale for what happens with individual visas,鈥� Bruce said. 鈥淭he department revokes visas every day in order to secure our borders and to keep our community safe 鈥� and we鈥檒l continue to do so.鈥�
