Several Harvard students lose visa, no reasons given; university refuses to share names

Amid the Donald Trump administration's ongoing crackdown on international students, several students of Harvard got their visas revoked recently, the university confirmed without revealing any further details for privacy reasons. The Harvard International Office announced that three students and two recent graduates from the university have had their student visas revoked. The office said it referred the cases to its legal counsel. The reason for the action is not known but the office said it was made during a routine records review.

“Harvard deeply values the international students and scholars who travel here to learn and grow. The talent they bring to campus each day increases our ability to advance world-class discovery in fields that have meaningful impact on people’s lives, while creating positive relationships and discourse that expand the horizons of people across our community. We are committed to continuing to support them,” the office wrote.

"We are not aware of the details of the revocations or the reasons for them, but we understand that comparable numbers of students and scholars in institutions across the country have experienced similar status changes in roughly the same timeframe," Harvard said.

Harvard has come on the radar of the Trump administration after several Ivy League institutes bore the brunt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about 300 student visas had been revoked nationwide and the reason being their participation in campus protests.

Northeastern said several of the university's students and recent graduates also had their visas revoked recently by the State Department. "ICE has also furthered this effort by terminating some student records without formal notification to the university or the student. As of now, we have no evidence that a Northeastern student or recent graduate has had their status revoked due to political advocacy or speech," the school said in a statement on its website.

Last week, five international students at UMass Amherst had their student visas revoked and the school also said they had no direct notification.

The first major action of the administration was the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student, who is now in ICE custody and challenging deportation.