UCLA graduate student detained at US-Mexico border, prompting protest

UCLA said that Customs and Border Protection agents detained one of their international graduate students at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. 

"Last night, around 9 p.m., a UCLA graduate student was attempting to cross the border from Mexico into the United States and they were stopped by Customs and Border Patrol, who have now decided to detain them," political science professor Graeme Blair said. 

Customs and Border Protection could not confirm the detention and said that, in most cases, privacy regulations restrict agents from commenting on individuals' cases. Thursday night, UCLA Vice Chancellor Mary Osako confirmed that the student was detained at the border. 

"UCLA has learned that an international graduate student was detained by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while attempting to enter the United States from Mexico," she said. "The student remains in the custody of CBP and we are actively working to learn more information."

Blair, other faculty members and students rallied outside the chancellor's office on Thursday afternoon.

"I have to talk to my students who are non-citizens every day, and they are terrified," Blair said. "I'm terrified for them because of the capricious nature of U.S. immigration policy right now. They don't know when they're going to be picked up in the middle of the night. They don't know when they're going to be forced from their classroom."

Five days after the student was detained, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, said the student arrived to the San Ysidro Port of Entry with an expired student visa. 

"The individual was granted the opportunity to withdraw their application for admission and return to their country of origin, in lieu of removal," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "The individual remains in detention while awaiting a departure flight of their choosing."

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. 

Colleges in Orange County said several international students have had their visas revoked.