The University of the Pacific has joined the growing list of colleges where international students have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration.
“To date, University of the Pacific is aware of two individuals connected with the university whose visas have been impacted. We are working closely with both,” university spokesperson Erica Hechtkopf told Stocktonia.
Neither the students’ identities nor their nationalities were released, and the university had no further comment.
About 11% of UOP’s student population — 777 students out of 6,944 among campuses in Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco — are from other countries, Hechtkopf said.
“At University of the Pacific, international students, scholars and families are essential to the fabric of our community,” President Christopher Callahan said. “We are committed to working closely with the two people whose visas were impacted and will continue to ensure any member of our community has the resources and support they need to continue their educational pursuits.”
Some 1,500 foreign students at 250 colleges and universities across the country have had their F-1 visas revoked in recent weeks, according to Inside Higher Ed, a news site that’s been tracking the data. Of the roughly 500 students for which the site says it was able to discern nationalities, the list included those from China, India, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Turkey, to name a few.
The number of California students affected by the visa revocations has been a moving target, but earlier this month, EdSource — a site covering education in the state — reported that more than 80 current and former students in the state’s public higher institutions of learning, from community colleges to the University of California system, had had their F-1 visas yanked.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says there are 154,414 international students in California.
For the most part, there do not seem to be any consistent reasons why the students are losing their ability to attend college in the U.S. In some cases, federal officials have cited participation in pro-Palestinian protests on campuses; in others, past criminal charges.
UOP has hardly been a hotbed of political activity. It was not mired in large-scale Israel-Hamas war disturbances involving protesters like other California campuses, including UCLA and USC.
Some of the visa revocations have now resulted in lawsuits, as students and others work to resolve their cases.
Among those are 10 students who filed a suit against the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month after their visas were pulled. The plaintiffs argued the move is unlawful.
The lawsuit alleges that the department “did not provide the students or their schools any meaningful explanation for terminating their F-1 student status,” reported The State News, an independent student-run news organization serving Michigan State University, where one of the students is a plaintiff. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.