International visas for students at Orange County colleges revoked

Several international students attending college in Orange County had their visas revoked, according to UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University.

In the past month, the Trump administration has cracked down on foreign student visas, with the State Department canceling more than 300 visas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes the nation's top diplomat to revoke the visas of foreign national students on the grounds that their presence or activities have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the U.S. 

"If you come to this country as a student, we expect you to go to class and study and get a degree," Rubio said earlier this week. "If you come here to like vandalize a library, take over a campus and do all kinds of crazy things, we're going to get rid of these people, and we're going to continue to do it."

Cal State Fullerton confirmed that four students' visas were revoked. 

I believe they are being told to leave because they have a certain amount of influence over others in order to congregate in a space all together," student Junior Gomez said. "It scares them because the louder the voice, the louder we're going to start opposing certain ideas."

The Panther, Chapman's student-run newspaper, reported that two graduate students and one postdoctoral student have a week to leave the country. The student newspaper reported that the reason for the revocations was not provided at the faculty senate meeting. 

"The Chapman Office of International Student Services is working directly with the affected students to try and understand their specific situations," a university spokesperson said. 

Attorney General Rob Bonta joined several other attorneys general to file a brief challenging Trump's crackdown on visas.