ICE reverses decision to revoke visas for SU, college students

Update, April 25: In response to a series of court challenges, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told multiple judges Friday that international students who had their visas unexpectedly revoked were being reinstated temporarily.

The Associated Press reported that federal lawyers read statements in the court that the students’ records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database were being manually reactivated until ICE establishes a system for terminating visas.

Three Syracuse University students were among the more than 1,700 affected students nationwide.

On Thursday, hundreds gathered on the steps of SU’s Remembrance Memorial for a Hands Off rally in support of international as well as to hear from speakers who called out the school for remaining silent on recent Trump administration orders.

Original Report:

News broke early Wednesday morning of the Trump administration’s abrupt revocation of visas for three international students at Syracuse University. The students join more than 1,700 nationwide who have fallen victim to the President’s targeting of international students, without much explanation as to why.

In a statement, SU said “no explanation was provided regarding why these particular students were selected,” and “the University was not notified in advance,” of the visa revocations. No additional details on the identities of the impacted students were provided.

The sudden news comes with less than a week left of the spring semester and a day before a planned “Hands Off” rally at the Remembrance Memorial on SU campus. The rally, organized by the Syracuse University American Association of University Professors (AAUP) follows the nationwide Hands Off! protests on April 5, including a local Syracuse rally at Forman Park.  

The University’s Center for International Services is currently working with the affected international students, according to the University’s statement, which adds that “two of the students remain on track to graduate as scheduled, and efforts are ongoing to assist the third student in maintaining their academic progress.”

Students have swiftly voiced their concerns following the news break Wednesday morning. On the same day, La Lucha Executive Board created a petition urging Chancellor Kent Syverud to “publicly affirm that Syracuse University will guard all student’s right to freedom of speech and assembly without the menacing prospect of involving ICE.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the petition has nearly 300 signatures with various comments urging SU to take action. “My friends are international students, we can’t let them have no rights,” reads one comment from Nolan on the petition. 

Along with institutions impacted by the revocation of student visas nationwide, other universities in Upstate New York have faced similar challenges. Cornell University had 17 international student visas revoked, 13 at the University at Buffalo and five attending Binghamton University, to name a few. 

Efforts by the Trump administration to revoke international student visas coincide with recent executive orders targeting universities and their educational initiatives. On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges and universities threatening to cut funding if the institutions did not eliminate race-conscious, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. 

In response, more than 220 institutions across the country signed a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the Trump administration’s actions against higher education as “political interference” and “overreach.” 

The letter is signed by several New York college and university presidents, including Cornell University, SUNY-ESF and Le Moyne College, but as of Wednesday afternoon, SU was not among the list of signatures.

When asked why the school had not signed the letter, a spokesperson for SU Chancellor Kent Syverud told Syracuse.com that “Syracuse University is not a member of the American Association of Colleges and Universities nor was it among the institutions consulted or invited to sign the letter before its issuance yesterday.”

SU leaders, including Syverud, are said to be discussing whether to sign the letter or issue a broader statement on the situation.