After dozens of international students had their visas revoked in Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox asked the Trump administration for more information on the criteria officials are using to select the students who seem to have to suddenly leave the country, some without finishing their programs.
Since many of the students and universities didn’t receive notices on their status change, Cox also asked the federal government for a “little bit of a heads up when these things are happening,” he said during his monthly news conference broadcast by PBS Utah.
“We’d like to understand better what the criteria are for those changes. Certainly, we know that there were some that had criminal backgrounds that we were not aware of, that the universities were not aware of,” Cox said. “(With) others, that does not appear to be the case, and so we would very much like to figure that out.”
Officers from all public universities in Utah reported over 50 cases of students that had their visas revoked or their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records terminated. Many didn’t release much information to protect the students’ privacy. But, the University of Utah, host of 20 of the impacted students, specified that approximately half of the affected students are from China, a spokesperson said in an email. The other half are from several countries including India and some Middle Eastern countries.
At Brigham Young University, a private Utah institution, a student from Japan had his visa revoked, potentially for a fishing licensing violation that happened years ago and was dismissed, according to the Deseret News.
The wave of visa revocations has instilled confusion on campuses throughout the country.
At the University of Utah “a few university students’ changes in status have not been connected to a clear, specific interaction with law enforcement,” leaders of the institution said in a statement. And none were flagged for participating in protests, a spokesperson said.
There are many unanswered questions still about these cases, but in the meantime, Cox said he hopes the country can keep on attracting talent from abroad, referring to past comments from President Donald Trump on his interest to bring bright minds to American institutions.
“We know how important those visas are and how important immigrants are to building our economy,” Cox said.
For the time being the Trump administration hasn’t gotten back to the governor, but, Cox said, there are ongoing conversations on how to keep attracting international students while checking their backgrounds.
“It’s important that we vet those who come, that we make sure we understand their backgrounds, that they don’t pose any threats, that they’re supportive of our country and the work that’s being done here,” Cox said. “And then it’s important that we get them and we keep them.”
When asked on whether there’s a constitutional crisis with the Trump administration ignoring orders to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man deported to a prison in El Salvador, even though he was shielded from deportation in 2019, Cox said that this is an interesting constitutional struggle.
“The problem with this is there’s just no nuance in the discussions. It’s like, either you hate the Constitution, or you want terrorists living in America, it seems like those are the two choices,” Cox said.
But, there may be a third option, he added. One in which Abrego Garcia returns to get through the process to get deported again.
“It really does matter that we hold to these constitutional norms, but pushing the boundaries of those norms is the prerogative, and was intended (…) It’s not the worst thing to challenge those norms, see where the lines are and then work within those lines,” he said.”
This report was originally published at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
