UMass students react to foreign student visas being revoked

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A crackdown on foreign students by the Trump Administration is alarming college leaders. One of the latest schools to be affected is the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Five international students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, had their visas revoked and student statuses terminated by the federal government. According to the university, in each of the five cases, the student’s legal status to remain in the United States has been revoked. University of Massachusetts Amherst officials claim they were not notified by federal authorities of these status revocations. Several other universities are reporting similar scenarios, claiming they were also blindsided.

We spoke with University of Massachusetts Amherst students Monday who shared their reactions after letting the news sink in over the weekend.

“Primarily, I’m concerned about what extent the state and municipal law-enforcement is gonna be collaborating with ice and customs, immigration, and stuff like that.” Said senior Duncan Lepera.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst posted a statement on their website that they only became aware because of proactive check-ins with immigration and customs.

“Some of my friends that are international students are just kind of on edge right now.” Said sophomore Carson Rose.

Lepera continued to say: “It’s only Monday. We just got the email on Friday so it’s kind of hard to gauge everyone else’s reaction. But from what I’ve heard what I’ve seen and conversations I’ve had with my classmates, people are kind of tense people are kind of afraid.”

The university has said they are actively connecting students with resources as they work with both state and federal officials to protect the University of Massachusetts Amherst community and maintain their status as a global university. However, some students would like to see more done by the university.

“I would like to see some you know more proactive response from the university about what exactly, what type of systems they’re willing to set up in order to protect those students.” Said Lepera

Other schools who have seen these unexpected visa terminations include Arizona state, Cornell, North Carolina State, The University of Oregon, The University of Texas, University of Colorado, and more.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst gave a heads-up to other international students still on campus explaining that the only way that students are informed of visa revocations is via an email notification to the address they originally used to apply for their f-1 or other non-immigrant visa. If students worked with an agent or consultant to apply for their visa, it is possible that the agent or consultant’s email address was used. The university encourages all students on visas to monitor the email address used for notifications from the department of state.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has established the angel fund to help meet the legal, academic, housing, living and counseling needs of students who are adversely affected by changes in federal immigration.