The Trump administration has stepped up its immigration offensive, this time hitting international students head-on. At least 147 foreign students have had their visas revoked in recent days, The New York Times reported on April 7. Many of them, without clear explanation, now face the imminent threat of deportation or forced departure from the country.

The affected universities include both renowned private institutions, such as Harvard, Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as public ones such as the University of California -with multiple cases reported in its different campuses-, the University of Texas at Austin or Minnesota State University-Mankato. According to The Guardian, at least 39 students from universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Ohio State and University of Oregon have received notifications that their immigration status was cancelled.

In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania confirmed that at least three of its international students lost their visas, according to a statement published by WHYY.org. The university assured that the cancellations were due to "immigration status violations" and were not related to the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked the campus in 2024. "This is an extremely unsettling time for international students and scholars at Penn and across the United States," the university said, noting that they are monitoring the cases and offering legal support and immigration counseling.

The situation is replicated at other institutions in the city. Temple University confirmed that an international student was forced to self-deport after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked his visa. According to WHYY.org, Temple did not provide details of the case, but clarified that there was no presence of ICE or Customs agents on campus.

Concern is spreading across the country. "This is totally unprecedented," warned attorney Fuji Whittenburg in remarks picked up by The New York Times. "Minimal interaction with law enforcement, which did not necessarily result in arrest or conviction, has been enough for visa revocation."

Among the cases exemplifying this tightening are students like Lisa (pseudonym), of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was notified of the termination of her immigration status just a month before graduating. According to The Guardian, Lisa had received two speeding citations a year earlier and, although she settled the case in court, she was included in this wave of terminations.

The Guardian's Ava Hu details that the universities confirmed the termination of these records in the SEVIS system, which monitors foreign students. Once a registration is removed, the visa is invalidated and the student must leave the country within a 15-day grace period, or initiate a complex process to restore their status.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted that his department has revoked more than 300 student visas. "We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa," Rubio declared, in a press conference picked up by The Guardian.

Part of the revocations are linked to students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests or who have expressed views critical of U.S. policy and Israel. The New York Times reports that Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate, and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student, were detained by ICE following their participation in demonstrations.

Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, told The New York Times that these measures "break with all standard government practice" and are enforced with "little explanation and almost no recourse for institutions or students to appeal."

In The Guardian, attorney Brad Banias warned during a virtual briefing, which brought together more than 300 affected students, that this is a politically motivated move. "It infuriates me to see 19-year-olds who just want to study, and suddenly a parking ticket they didn't even know existed shows up on a background check," he lamented.

Universities, though limited in resources, are trying to respond. According to The New York Times, Harvard warned its international students to reconsider traveling abroad and warned about the risks of participating in pro-Palestinian speeches or protests. At the University of California, professors and unions have called for allowing deported or detained students to continue their studies remotely and maintain their scholarships or financial support.

The legal response has not been long in coming. Attorney Stacy Tolchin filed two lawsuits in Los Angeles and anticipates more legal action this week. For its part, the ACLU is defending Xiaotian Liu, a Chinese doctoral student at Dartmouth College, whose visa was revoked despite not having a criminal record or having participated in protests, according to court documents cited by The New York Times.

This episode reflects a troubling escalation in the Trump administration's immigration policies, which tightens access to higher education for foreigners and sends a deterrent message to prospective international students. In 2024, the United States issued more than 400,000 student visas. Today, many of those young people are seeing their futures cut short without warning.