Visas revoked for 13 additional UC Berkeley students and recent graduates, officials say
Officials at the University of California in Berkeley on Tuesday confirmed that 13 additional members of the campus community "have had their visas terminated and non-immigrant status revoked by the federal government."
The new figures were provided by UC Berkeley campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore.
The announcement Tuesday afternoon detailed that the new individuals who were affected by the action included three undergraduate students, six graduate students, and four recent graduates, two who were part of "the OPT program that allows for 12 months of work experience" and two who were "in the STEM OPT program that provides 24 months of work experience in their STEM-related field of study."
The thirteen additional members brings the new total of students and recent graduates affected to 19. Last week, six students at UC Berkeley had their visas revoked, according to Gilmore. There were also six students who had their visas revoked at Stanford and another dozen former and current UCLA students had their visas taken away.
"The federal government recently increased terminations of some student visas for international students across the country with records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). As of today, we are aware of approximately 50 students and recent graduates across several UC campuses who have been impacted. The government has not coordinated with UC leaders on their decisions or provided advance notice to us, but has indicated in government databases that the terminations were due to violations of the terms of the individuals' visa programs. At this time, we are not aware of any federal law enforcement activity on our campuses," UC President Michael Drake said.
On Tuesday, Stanford officials also confirmed that more students have had their visas revoked. While the school is continuing to monitor the situation, officials "will not be providing updates on the number of students affected."
CBS News Bay Area also learned that Cal State University officials have "confirmed that the visas of 36 CSU students have been revoked." Officials noted that no additional information would be shared to protect the privacy of students.
While San Francisco State University said no current international students were affected by the action, school officials were aware of "four recent graduates with F-1 status who had their status terminated."
Meanwhile, San Jose State University officials confirmed "11 students and/or graduates have had their student visas terminated."
On Monday afternoon on the Cal campus, students Eli Wilson and Kian Asgharzadeh described the uneasy mood on campus.
"Definitely anxious. A lot of anxiety, a lot of tension," said Wilson. "It's scary. You don't know if you'll be able to have the same security going into your future as you did, like, two months ago."
"There's more fear," said Asgharzadeh. "There's more, like, 'What am I going to do when my time is up here? Or am I even going to finish my time here, based on how things are going.'"
If there was any doubt that the actions were meant to target students who participated in last year's pro-Palestinian protests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it pretty clear.
"We have a right to deny your visa. I think it makes sense to deny your visa," Rubio recently said on camera. "We're going to err on the side of caution. We are not going to be importing activists into the United States. They're here to study. They're here to go to class. They're not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine our universities. I think it's lunacy to continue to allow that."
