By: Rieley McDonnell, Staff Writer

F-1 study visas are being revoked around the nation with the increased action by immigration officials, and the trend has now hit Cincinnati colleges.

“We have learned that the Department of Homeland Security has revoked the F-1 visas of a small number of international students here at UC,” an email sent from University of Cincinnati (UC) President Neville G. Pinto said. The email says that representatives will work with students to help them through the “incredibly challenging time.”

Homeland Security gave no reason as to why the F-1 visas were revoked. UC had no contact from authorities, according to the email sent out to the campus. 

While UC was not given a concrete reason for the revocations, statements from the Trump administration help to shed light on the situation. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made comments on the amount of visas revoked and the reasoning behind why they were being revoked in late March.

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said.

Many of the students who have had their visas revoked were part of the pro-Palestine protests. However, the scope of who is being targeted is speculated to be expanding.

“You see these 300 people, that’s a statistic,” sophomore Gavin Steele, President of College Democrats and a Philosophy, Politics and the Public and Business Analytics and Information Systems major stated, “but you’re undermining the dignity and community of each one of these individuals.”

The Trump administration is using artificial intelligence Algorithms in addition to human judgement, to determine which visas they are revoking. 

“It’s concerning the methods they’re using. I think what is more concerning is the social media sleuthing and how they’re going though all visa holding residents and seeing if they’re supportive of their political causes or not,” Steele said. 

Social media sleuthing refers to looking at publicly available information to try and solve a crime. In the case of the Trump administration they are doing deep dives into F-1 visa holders social media accounts to determine if they are adhering to Executive Orders 14161 and 14188.

“The Trump administration’s attack on higher education, free speech and lawful U.S. residents is concerning. Taking into account their lack of due process when doing these extreme measures is terrifying,” Steele said.

The lack of due process is attributed to the fact that there are few avenues to challenging the revocations. Former visa holders can go to the courts if they have not already been deported from the U.S. 

“You don’t get to deport someone because they don’t align with your values. Politically there’s a real conflict in the Middle East, and individuals expressing their values doesn’t give them a reason to be deported,” Steele stated. 

The phenomenon has hit the Xavier community with at least one visa being revoked. Steele believes that the U.S. is at a fork in the road. 

“I think we’re at a decision point where we can choose to resist, get through these next two years, elect a new Senate, a new Congress that will hold him (Trump) accountable for uprooting our traditions, or we can just go apathetic and let this happen,” Steele said.