Twelve international students at Clark University in Worcester have had their visas revoked, school administrators said.
“Normally, institutions and/or students would be notified by the federal government if a student’s visa has been revoked; that is not occurring,” administrators said in a message to the university community on Thursday. “Instead, we are regularly monitoring any changes of status for our students in the federal government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database,”
“At this point, we have confirmed that federal authorities have revoked the visas and/or terminated their record in SEVIS of 12 of our international students. We do not know for certain the reason for these actions.”
The message was signed by President David Fithian, Provost John Magee, and John LaBrie, associate provost and dean of graduate studies and international programs.
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“The past week has been an especially unsettling one for our international students, with the federal government’s unprecedented process of revoking student visas,” the administrators said. “Unfortunately, we expect this will continue.”
At Harvard University, a dozen students or former students have had their visas revoked in recent weeks. Across the country, the Trump administration has rescinded the visas of hundreds of international students.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the visas are being pulled for alleged involvement in pro-Palestinian protests or because they have ties to “potential criminal activity.”
In Massachusetts, more than 78,000 international students hold visas, the country’s third highest total. Nationwide, students from India and China comprise more than half of all student visa holders, with South Korea a distant third.
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At Clark, staff are working with the students “to ensure they understand their basic legal rights, help them obtain legal representation, and plan for continuing their studies,” they said.
The university is urging international students to review their visas and keep their personal documentation up to date.
“In further support for our international students, Clark joined 85 other higher education institutions and organizations across the country in signing onto an amicus brief in AAUP v. Rubio, a case challenging the federal government’s revocation of visas and detentions of noncitizen students and scholars,” administrators said.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.