SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Over the weekend, it was announced that five international UC San Diego students had their F-1 visas terminated.
These types of visas give foreign students legal status to live in the United States while they go to school.
The federal government has terminated these visas for a number of students all over the state and country.
According to the university, the visa terminations came without warning.
As of Monday afternoon, there was still no word on who those students are or why their visas were revoked.
Jacob Sapochnick is a San Diego-based immigration attorney. He does not represent any of the five students but explained how F-1 visas work and why they could typically be revoked.
"Caught working illegally or not maintaining their schedule of school, but now we have other things that are happening," says Sapochnick.
However, he says that under the second Trump administration, he has seen the reasons change or expand.
"Protesting, social media posting that are public, minor violations like speeding, you know, maybe they were involved in shoplifting, they were not convicted," says the immigration attorney.
The students haven't come forward, but CAIR San Diego is trying to find out if any were targeted for protesting.
"We want to know who these students are and if it was a target of political protest because we've been seeing this across campuses in the United States," says Samar Ismail, a community organizer for CAIR.
Almost a year ago, dozens of UCSD students organized and participated in a days-long Gaza solidarity encampment on campus protesting the Israel-Hamas war. It has not been confirmed if any of the 5 students whose visas were terminated participated in that demonstration.
As we wait to find out more about the UC San Diego students, Sapochnick says international students and their families are feeling anxious.
"They're worried because these are 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds that came here from Europe, from Asia, they are going through pretty, you know, prestigious schools and their entire education is on the line," says Sapochnick.
On Monday, UC San Diego said it was not conducting interviews at the moment and referred ABC 10News to the chancellor's campus notice.
ABC 10News reached out to San Diego State University to see if any of its international students had their visas revoked. A spokesperson confirmed that one student's visa had been revoked, and the notice came "without any information in advance or any explanation as to why the visa was being revoked."
"The student has since been notified, and we are working with them to provide support," the statement said.
