The federal government has revoked the student visa of an international student at Emerson College and three such visas of students at Berklee College of Music, according to the schools.
In a statement on Monday, Emerson President Jay Bernhardt said the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to revoke the student’s visa does not appear to be related to any campus protest activity. The Trump administration has revoked a number of student visas for the holders’ public stances on the war in Gaza.
“We recently learned that one of our international students had their student status revoked by DHS in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS),” Bernhardt said. “We are working closely with the affected student, who has requested that our community respect their privacy, to provide support during this difficult time.”
It’s “important to note that we have no reason to believe that this student was targeted for protest-related activity,” he said.
At Berklee, spokesperson Tori Donahue said Monday “the federal government has not explained the reasoning behind these terminations and did not notify Berklee in advance of the terminations.”
Boston University also confirmed some students had their visas revoked, though it didn’t specify how many.
“Our International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) is now routinely reviewing the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), and we have had some cases of SEVIS termination,” said BU in a statement Monday. “The university immediately notified the affected students, answered their preliminary questions, and provided them with sources to find appropriate immigration counsel.”
Last week, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes said five international students recently had their visas revoked and their student statuses terminated by the federal government.
Governor Maura Healey blasted the revocations on Monday.
“International students are valued and essential parts of our Massachusetts communities and economy,” Healey said in a statement. “It is absolutely unacceptable that students in Massachusetts have had their visas revoked with no notice. The Trump Administration needs to immediately provide information about why this happened, and what they are doing to protect people’s rights and due process. International students should know that they are welcome in Massachusetts and that we will do everything we can to provide a safe environment for them to live, learn and work.”
President Trump campaigned on a promise to deport international students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, but it was unclear Monday why the latest round of Boston-area students had their visas revoked.
The government’s targeting of international students appeared to begin last month when federal agents detained Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born green card holder and Palestinian activist who was a prominent negotiator during protests at the Ivy League school’s New York City campus last year.
On March 25, Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey who had co-authored an op-ed in her student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to the pro-Palestinian movement and calling for divestment from Israel, was detained in Somerville near campus by masked ICE agents.
In the past two weeks, more colleges and universities have learned that their international students have been stripped of their visas, without prior notice or explanation, and in many cases have also had their legal residency status terminated.
The schools include Arizona State, Cornell University, North Carolina State, the University of Oregon, the University of Texas, and the University of Colorado.
Locally, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts campuses in Boston and Amherst say they discovered that the federal government has declared that some international students are no longer in the country legally, the Globe reported Sunday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late last month that the administration had revoked hundreds of student visas, possibly more than 300.
“As we enter this final month of the academic year, I encourage everyone in our community to do their best to remain focused on what matters most: academics, enrollment, and supporting one another,” Bernhardt said in his statement. “I also urge our community to resist the external and internal pressures that seek to inflame and divide us. Emersonians are creative, compassionate, and committed, and our collective strengths and shared values will help us through even the most challenging times.”
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report, and Globe correspondent Ava Berger and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio of the Globe Staff contributed.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.