ASU: 8 international students get visas revoked for ‘legal infractions’
TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — Arizona State University confirmed Thursday that the U.S. Department of State has pulled the visas of eight international students here from other countries on student visas.
Arizona’s largest universities are now responding with new guidance, as other students on campus voiced their concerns at a rally Thursday on the Tempe campus.
“All across the country we’ve seen attacks on immigrant rights, attacks on free speech. We’ve seen college students all across the country pulled off the street, arrested, deported, disappeared by the United States government,” said Evan, an ASU sophomore.
That’s part of the reason why he and other students protesting Thursday said they chose to wear masks.
Over the past month, officials with the Trump Administration have come down on pro-Palestinian activists revoking visas and challenging their legal status. “Now it’s happening at ASU,” Evan added.
However, an ASU spokesperson clarified that these revocations are not tied to political protests on campus.
Thursday, more than a dozen students marched on campus after learning about their eight classmates now forced to go home or risk deportation. “It just shows that asu is on the same trajectory as a lot of these other colleges in suppressing immigrant rights and free speech and we’re here to fight that,” he said.
ASU and the University of Arizona are now both encouraging international students and scholars to keep their immigration documents on them. U of A officials shared the email they sent out to students outlining their suggestions and guidance.
Sophie, a senior at ASU, is one of the rally organizers who, along with others, marched while chanting and shaming ASU for not protecting its students. “It’s extremely important to stand up today to show that we don’t tolerate this and we demand a sanctuary campus where students can be safe in their learning environments,” she shared.
Together, the group held signs in support of their classmates. “I feel a bit more safe and I think that because of that I need to be speaking out because I’m in that position of privilege,” she explained.
A spokesperson with ASU shared the following statement:
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