A “few” international students at the University of Hawaii are among more than 1,000 students who have been stripped of their visas across the United States.
In a Friday statement to the 10-campus UH system, President Wendy Hensel said that “a few” of UH’s more than 1,700 international students have had their visas revoked by federal officials.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser confirmed Monday that fewer than five UH students have had their visas revoked.
“University officials are working directly with the affected students to provide information and support and connect them with available resources,” Hensel said in her statement.
Other Hawaii universities, including Chaminade University and Brigham Young University Hawaii, did not respond to the Star-Advertiser’s request for information. Hawaii Pacific University said none of its 305 international students had their visas revoked.
A UH spokesperson told the Star-Advertiser that the details of the affected students’ situations were to remain private but that if students need a referral, they would be referred to immigration attorneys.
The New York Times reported Friday that approximately 800 of the nation’s 1.5 million international university students have had their visas revoked, many who have had minor brushes with the law and some who have been targeted due to pro-Palestinian activism.
According to the publication Inside Higher Ed, the number of revoked student visas reached 1,179 Monday, affecting more than 180 colleges and universities nationwide.
The exact reasons why UH students had their visas revoked remains unclear.
UH had not been made aware of any changes in the affected students’ attendance of classes as of Monday because all private student information is protected by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“Professors would not be notified (that an international student’s visa had been revoked) unless an impacted student opted to inform them,” according to a statement from UH to the Star-Advertiser.
No presence from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has been reported on UH’s campus as of Friday, according to Hensel’s statement.
Media reports across the country, including from the University of Washington, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Texas A&M and Florida International University, said that in many cases, institutions — not students — had discovered that international students’ visas had been revoked or that their immigration status had been changed after checking the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
A UH source who was not authorized to speak on the matter confirmed that the school had been checking the SEVIS system and had similarly found that the international students’ visas had been revoked. UH then notified the students directly about the change.
SEVIS is an online tracking system and database overseen by the federal Department of Homeland Security that allows universities to monitor international students’ academic standings, class attendance and legal status, according to ICE’s website.
But those tools are now being used to cross-check social media and criminal histories, according to a report by NBC News.
Since late January, Hensel has released multiple statements on a UH website titled “New federal policy updates and resources” to address concerns of students, faculty, alumni and the general community about how federal policy changes, court rulings and President Donald Trump’s executive orders affect UH.
As of April 7, the web page was updated to say that international students should be cautious when participating at public demonstrations and posting on social media, as it “could be perceived as controversial or linked to certain groups (which) may lead to increased scrutiny.”
The advice comes as several international students on the mainland who have expressed pro-Palestinian views publicly have been detained by immigration officials or had their visas revoked.
That includes Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University activist who could be deported, and Mohsen Mahdawi, Khalil’s co-founder of the Palestinian Student Union, who was arrested Monday by Homeland Security at his citi-zenship interview.
UH’s resource web page also states a disclaimer under each answered question that reads, “UH is committed to protecting the rights of international community members, including their rights to free speech and peaceful protest. However, visa renewals are determined by federal authorities, and UH has no control over that process.”
On Monday an ICE spokesperson clarified a previous message to the Star-Advertiser and said that an “out of status non-U.S. citizen who is arrested and not convicted of a crime could face removal proceedings.”
ICE also clarified that beneficiaries of the Compacts of Free Agreement — migrants from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, who are legally allowed to live, work and study in the U.S. without a visa — “must be convicted of a removable offense before being amenable to removal proceedings.”
But Honolulu-based immigration attorney Neribel Chardon, who said she has not yet had any cases of student visas being revoked, said the immigration landscape remains unpredictable and continues to shift.
“Noncitizens, including COFA, are being detained after an arrest by local police, even if charges are not pressed,” Chardon said Monday. “What happens next will just depend, but they are being detained.”
This story has been updated to clarify that UH was not cross-checking international student status with criminal histories or social media activity, but rather had checked SEVIS for status updates and found that “a few” visas had been revoked.
