Gov. Cox wants info from Trump administration regarding international student visa revocations

SALT LAKE CITY — During his monthly news conference, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said his office has reached out to the Trump administration for more information about the dozens of international students at Utah campuses who have recently had their visas revoked.

"We've asked them to give us a little bit of a heads up when these things are happening. We'd like to understand better what the criteria are for those changes," Cox said Thursday.

The governor noted that some of the international students had criminal backgrounds "that we were not aware of, that the universities were not aware of."

For other impacted students, he added, "that does not appear to be the case — and so we would very much like to figure that out."

Cox said in the past that President Donald Trump has talked about the importance of attracting "the most talented and brightest" from other countries to the United States. "We know how important those visas are and how important immigrants are to building our economy."

It's also important, Cox added, that student visa applicants be properly vetted and determined that they pose no threat to the country and that they "are supportive of the work that's being done here; and then it's important that we get them and we keep them.

"So that is an area, for sure, where we're having ongoing dialog," he said.

Cox said the Trump administration has not responded to the state's request for more information.

BYU grad student surprised by visa revocation

While many impacted international students who are enrolled in Utah colleges have been reticent speaking publicly about their visa situation, a Brigham Young University graduate student shared his experience Wednesday with the Deseret News.

Suguru Onda, a husband and father of five from Japan, recently found out that his student visa had been revoked.

Besides a couple of speeding tickets, Onda's only legal incident during his six years of study in the United States was when he was reportedly cited for harvesting more fish than his fishing license allowed during a 2019 outing with his Latter-day Saint church group.

The fishing charge was later dismissed, according to Onda's attorney, Adam Crayk.

Onda's visa revocation notice, added his attorney, offered scant details outside of noting that the student visa was being terminated for "otherwise failing to maintain status" and included this explanation: "Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked, service record has been terminated."

An immigration attorney, Crayk said that traditionally international students were in jeopardy of having their visas revoked when they are connected with aggravated felonies, crimes involving "moral turpitude" and offenses related to, say, drugs, guns, protective order violations and certain domestic violence offenses.

"Something that's much more significant than keeping an extra fish," he added.

Onda, the attorney noted, has no history of posting politically charged content.

Crayk reported working with other international students in Utah who have had their visas recently revoked. Many, he said, are hesitant to reveal their names out of fear of being arrested by immigration officers.

Student visa revocations happening across the US

While almost all of Utah's degree-granting colleges have reported visa revocations among their international student population, similar situations are being reported at higher education institutions across the country.

Authorities had revoked the visas of international students in at least 32 states, according to NBC News analysis.

Officials, according to NBC News, are largely citing a seldom-used 1952 foreign policy statute to take aim at their activism. Others' visas have been terminated seemingly for past charges like DUIs.

Attorneys and advocates say it seems as though people who have protested in support of Palestinians, those with previous arrests and those with certain political social media posts are the likeliest to have been swept up.

The focus on international students is part of the Trump administration's larger immigration crackdown and deportation machine, immigration attorneys and policy experts say, with immigrants of all statuses being scrutinized, NBC News reported.

Most of the students who have been targeted are studying in the United States under the F-1 and J-1 visas.

The F-1 visa allows noncitizens to enter the United States as full-time students at accredited education institutions. And to qualify for those visas, people must meet certain criteria, including approval from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, proficiency in English or enrollment in courses that lead to English proficiency and sufficient funds to support themselves during their entire courses of study.

The J-1 visa, available to students, teachers, researchers and other specialists, allows people to participate in approved programs for studying, conducting research, receiving training or demonstrating special skills. And after their programs are complete, they are required to return to their countries within 30 days, NBC News reported.

The State Department directed NBC News to comments spokesperson Tammy Bruce made earlier this week at a media briefing.

"We don't discuss individual visas because of the privacy issues involved," Bruce said. "What we can tell you is that the department revokes visas every day in order to secure our borders and to keep our community safe."

The Department of Homeland Security recently created a task force that uses data analytic tools to scour international students' social media histories for potential grounds to revoke their visas, three sources familiar with the operation previously told NBC News.

The sources also said that the task force is searching for charges and criminal convictions on students' records as well.

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