The Trump administration’s efforts to revoke visas have appeared to create a culture of fear amongst international students at Richland.
In the first two weeks of April, the North Texas Daily reported 73 instances of international students’ visas being revoked at universities across North Texas, with 27 students at the University of Texas at Arlington, 19 students at the University of Texas at Dallas, and 27 students at the University of North Texas losing their visas according to campus-wide emails sent out by the schools.
While the universities didn’t clarify the basis of the visa terminations in their emails, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained his thought process behind the actions following the detainment of Tufts University doctoral candidate Rumeysa Ozturk, a Palestinian rights activist who was deported despite not having been charged with a crime, saying, “if you apply for a student visa…to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa.”
Rubio’s student visa terminations have followed a pattern of inflicting Pro-Palestinian students, with Homeland Security spokespersons labeling the students as antisemitic or Pro-Hamas despite them claimed to only advocating for Palestinian lives. An international student at Richland, whose identity was kept anonymous for security reasons, voiced their concerns following the looming threat of visa terminations in America.
“I feel like I’m walking a very tight rope between the opportunities that were promised and the uncertainty that may, one day, become certain,” said the student. “All of these visas getting revoked is a reminder that belonging is conditional, and that I will never have the right to classify belonging as a personal guarantee.”
Recently, the Trump administration sparked controversy after it disregarded a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling to coordinate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man that was falsely deported to an El Salvador prison in what was cited by the White House as an “administrative error”. The administration’s actions have been scrutinized by some as a negligence to the established checks and balances within the federal government. Patrick Moore, for example, who is a Government professor at Richland, shared his opinions on the imbalance of powers in the current administration.
“Our current president is right in the middle of arguing that the judiciary cannot limit him in any way, and that the legislature cannot limit him in any way,” said Moore, “and what we have is a dictatorship.”
He additionally discussed the recent accusation of criminal contempt by a federal judge against Donald Trump, issued in response to the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling.
“This judge is going to say, you are guilty of criminal contempt and you have to pay the penalty or go to jail or whatever the result is,” Moore said. “In that moment, if Trump says ‘no, I don’t have to do that’, then the 250-year experiment is at an end. We have, officially, a dictator at that point. It’s terrifying.”
As limitations against the powers of the executive branch appear to falter to the Trump administration, many international students fear for their future in the United States, with some feeling apprehensive about the promises made to them by America.
“If we start putting borders and limits on freedom, then liberty gets hollowed of its essence,” said the Richland student. “It becomes a paradox, because freedom should not have any borders.”
