On April 5, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a press release titled: “Defending America’s Security through Visa and Travel Restrictions on South Sudan.” The five sentence statement announces that the U.S. government will no longer be issuing visas to South Sudanese immigrants and is, “taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders.” This means that international students from South Sudan cannot return to the U.S. if they leave the country, and it is one of many recent actions taken by the Trump Administration that is making the international student experience increasingly fraught. 

President Bolton addressed this issue in an email to The Wire. 

“Over the past several weeks, we have been very concerned about the reported revocation of visas of over a thousand international students across the U.S., and also about a significant number of international students whose SEVIS records have been terminated and who have, in some cases, been taken into custody or stopped at the border for a variety of reasons,” Bolton wrote. 

SEVIS, or Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, is an online database that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses to keep track of international students. International students store specific records in SEVIS that show they are legally studying in the United States. According to NAFSA, Association of International Educators, there have been 1,400 reports of international students having their visas revoked or their SEVIS records terminated as of April 17. 

“The cause given for the SEVIS record termination has changed. When NAFSA first became aware of these terminations, the rationale given was tied to sections of the Immigration and Naturalization Act and references to being a foreign policy threat. Now the reason given is ‘other’ with a vague reference to a criminal records check ‘and/or’ a visa revocation,” NAFSA says.

Cody Tornow, Whitman’s Director of International Student and Scholar Services, says that the international student experience is currently “unstable” because the Trump administration often does not announce the changes they are making to policies about international students. 

“Students are feeling really off-balanced because even if they’re doing everything that they’re supposed to be doing, they’re following immigration regulations [etc.], there’s just so many unknowns happening. Students at other institutions are losing their status, and there’s not a lot of transparency from the government about why those things are happening… it’s fundamentally different from what I’ve experienced in my career over the last about eight to ten years,” Tornow said. 

NAFSA is the resource that international student advisors across the country, like Tornow, use for data on international student affairs. 

 “There is still no transparency on the grounds for these revocations, nor is there any clear process for determining what the charges are against the students. Due process is woefully absent,” NAFSA says. 

Bolton echoed this sentiment. 

“Some of the revocations appear to be linked to protest or other forms of activism, others connect to minor infractions such as a speeding ticket years ago, others are unexplained. We are equally concerned about the reported revocation of permanent resident status in some cases,” Bolton wrote. 

One of these revocations happened to activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose green card was illegally revoked because of his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.  

Amidst the federal government’s sweeping visa revocations, many international students are responding with lawsuits. This week, Federal Judge Victoria M. Calvert ordered ICE to reinstate the legal statuses of 133 international students, whose F-1 visas had been revoked. 

Whitman College’s Vice President for Communications, Gina Zandy-Onstead, wrote to The Wire in a published response that the College will not voluntarily work with ICE. 

“The college and all of its staff will protect students’ safety and privacy to the maximum possible extent under the law. We will not provide any information on students to ICE or other outside agents unless we are absolutely required to do so. If someone comes to campus seeking a student we would not provide them any information unless they have a signed judicial warrant that requires us to do so. If they have a signed judicial warrant, we would work with our attorneys to see whether there are legal grounds to object to the warrant or to require that it be narrowed in scope,” Zandy-Onstead wrote.

This administrative policy is contrary to claims in a pamphlet widely circulated across campus titled “Whitman Security Abuses the Law.” The pamphlet argues a connection between student concerns about the administration washing chalk off the sidewalk, with international student concerns about ICE potentially coming to campus and making arrests. 

“Juli Dunn, Kazi Joshua and other admin have said they are willing to collaborate with ICE when they inevitably come to campus!” The pamphlet reads. 

The Wire has confirmed that this is misinformation. All international students with concerns about their situation can reach out to Cody Tornow for more resources and support. Bolton says that the college is currently working to secure crisis legal aid for international students, and is creating food and living accommodations for international students over the summer if they cannot return to their home country due to the current political situation. 

“We are also working with attorneys and other experts to be prepared to provide crisis support and uphold the rights of Whitman’s international students and employees in case it is needed.  In addition to Know Your Rights trainings, we have also developed and shared several resources about immigration enforcement, including the one here,” Bolton wrote. 

The Wire has confirmed that the administration is currently working to create a set protocol in case ICE were to come to campus.