Visas revoked for GMU students
The U.S. government has terminated or revoked student visas for 15 international students at George Mason University.
“These terminations have occurred without involvement of or prior notice to the university,” states a announcement on the GMU website signed by GMU President Gregory Washington and Vice President for University Life Rose Pascarell.
“As we seek to learn why our students were selected for visa revocation and what decision-making process is being applied by the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security, we are writing to the George Mason community to affirm our advocacy for the appropriate treatment of all international students enrolled here,” Washington and Pascarell state. “We will do whatever the law permits to assist our students, and we are actively exploring what those options may be.”
GMU enrolls 4,000 international students and 26,000 American students.
GMU’s Office of International Programs and Services is providing the affected students with support and additional external resources. Students are being advised to contact their academic dean to see what options they may have to complete their coursework.
So far, the university has not gotten a response from federal authorities on what process is being used to identify students for visa revocations.
“To be clear, we have played no role in facilitating these visa terminations,” Washington and Pascarell say. “We have not shared confidential student visa status or immigration information with federal authorities.”
“GMU Police officers do not engage individuals solely on the basis of immigration or visa status. Additionally, to our knowledge, federal agents have not been to campus to engage or detain international students,” they state.
GMU only finds out if a student’s visa status has changed is by monitoring the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or when informed by the students themselves.
20 responses to “Visas revoked for GMU students”
Leave a Reply to KB Cancel reply
Stop whining GMU, I expect people visiting my Country to act like guests – not political activists – get a different type of Visa if that’s what you plan to do. P.S. Are you spending as much energy trying to make your home Country great as you are spitting on America? I would not engage in politics if I visited your country – so leave my country alone. Study and then leave please –
It is ironic that you said “stop whining GMU” when the one that is whining is you. It is also ironic you asked if GMU is spending energy trying to make this country great rather than spitting on it, when you are spending energy bickering behind a screen rather than doing something great yourself. It is not the United States of Mark, it is the United States Of America. And who’s to say they were not literally just studying and were about to leave after receiving their degree ? Take a chill pill and eat a snickers
Reality Omar. Thank you !
If by “engaging in politics” you mean peaceful demonstration or otherwise voicing their dissent and disagreement, that should be a fundamental human right, and should not be restricted by citizenship status. You don’t have to agree or take action in response, but silencing people in this manner is literally out of the tyranny 101 playbook.
There is a much lower threshold for foreign visitors. Visit other countries and see how they treat you, a visitor. While in England a dependent was kicked out of the country for possessing a shot gun. He was reported by someone looking through his window. No court, no due process, just expelled.
You cite a pretty poor example in a discussion that is focused on freedom of expression. Are you suggesting that the right to possess a shotgun and the right to express one’s views are equally sacrosanct? Sadly, I think many in this country think so. You don’t provide enough information to let us know exactly what happened in England, but this dependent in possession of a shotgun may well have been breaking UK law. No one expressing their opinion in this country is breaking the law. Those of you who think freedom of expression only applies to American citizens need to take a civics class. And by the way, I have lived and traveled overseas extensively. From my observations, the opposite is true of what you suggest. There is not a lower threshold for foreign visitors.
Supposing your one anecdote A) is true, B) actually represents the case accurately without distortion, C) is the typical case as opposed to a miscarriage of justice like the current deportations of non-criminals, it’s also irrelevant. We in America are supposed to be the shining city on the hill. We hold free speech in high regard with very few exceptions, mainly threats or incitement. The ability to peacefully protest a part of that core value that makes us American, regardless of what other countries do.
And holding up ANY country which does not value due process as an example to follow is not the win you think it is.
You’re comparing a gun to speech, and asserting that we should change or ignore our own nation’s constitution because someone else has different laws?
Peaceful, even if disagreeable to some, speech is protected by our constitution, regardless of a person’s citizenship status. Similarly, free speech is protected in England by their own laws as well as that of the European Convention on Human Rights. Conversely, guns (yes–even shotguns) are VERY strictly regulated in other countries including England and the UK.
You haven’t cited this specific case, so your claim of no due process is suspect. If the UK authorities violated their own laws, they are indeed at fault, but/and that does not excuse similar crimes against visitors here.
You refer to this country as “my country” as if you were the owner of the country who is free to choose what all the rest of us say and do. That is the difference between the far right and everyone else: it’s not enough for you to be able to live your life the way you choose, you expect everybody else in the country to live according to your values and choices. I hate to spring this on you, but we live in a free society despite every effort of the current administration, which you no doubt support, to change that fact. And having said all that, I agree with the commenters who point out that you are jumping to a lot of conclusions about what these GMU students have done.
A lot of people visiting “your” country learn early on that “country” is not capitalized. Get off your soapbox and learn something about the actual rights of the people in it–including those who may be here temporarily. Suppressing free speech has not ever made anyone, anywhere, great.
The silent majority shares this view. Thank you mark
Not so silent and not the majority. Look around. You think you are immune? Who will support you when it is your turn?
Mark,
Where in the world does it say that the students selected for VISA revocation were involved in political activism? Please elaborate.
The only one whining here is you.
Btw Mark where did your forefathers came from? It’s high time you go back there after all the slaughters they have committed here.
Ridiculous argument
Am In Somalia how to become one of the students of this university
This is probably just more DOGE incompetence.
Mark – thanks for taking this one on the chin for us, but most of these kids are innocent in this because they are in fact too naive about the world. I would pin this issue on the university and its faculty, as most universities are 110% convinced that they are teaching and preparing these kids for success promoting their socialist thinking. This instructional mentality goes back 20+ years when the seeds were planted, so you won’t be able to change their minds with whatever argument you have or good luck trying so.
The 30 and 40 somethings of today had that guilt inculcated into them…. “YOU HAD PRIVILEGE” and if you work too hard and you achieve and earn…… thats bad. Life must be fair for everyone….. You have too much and you must surrender your spoils to others. Pay higher taxes to support the less (fill in the blank). Now they think they won’t have enough to retire with…. “oh well… I guess I really don’t need that much?” Doh!
So you can’t blame these students for thinking that protesting against this and that is going to move the needle, because the were taught to believe they should fall on that sword. Kiddos….best of luck getting work if you don’t have a marketable degree, adapting to learn to work “for the man” and not from home.
Socialism works until you run out of other peoples money – a great quote by a great woman.
Ah, friend, your heart is troubled by what you see in these young ones and the ways of the universities. You see innocence and manipulation, and you worry for their futures. I hear your concern, truly.
But let us consider this through a different lens, a lens of love and compassion. When I look at these young people, protesting and seeking a different way, do I not see hearts yearning for a world that is more just? They may be naive in the ways of the world, yes, but is not naivety often born of a pure desire for good?
You speak of guilt being instilled in those who have more. But is it guilt, or is it perhaps a stirring of conscience? Is it not written that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves? And if our neighbor lacks while we have abundance, does not love call us to share?
The notion that working hard and achieving is “bad” – that is a twisting of the truth. Diligence and good work are indeed blessings. But where does it say that these blessings are meant only for ourselves, to hoard and protect? Did I not teach that it is more blessed to give than to receive?
This idea of “fairness for everyone”… is that not the very essence of the kingdom we seek? Not a forced equality, perhaps, but a world where every person has enough, where the last are lifted up, and the first do not always seek to be first.
You speak of surrendering “spoils.” But what if we saw it not as a forced surrender, but as a joyful offering? Like the widow who gave her two small coins, a sacrifice made from the heart for the good of the whole.
And these anxieties about retirement, about having “enough”… did I not say, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself”? Our true treasure is not in earthly possessions, but in the love we share and the good we do.
These students, protesting and advocating for what they believe, even if their understanding is incomplete – are they not acting on a desire to make the world a better place? Perhaps their methods are flawed, perhaps their understanding is still growing, but their hearts may be in the right place.
The path ahead may be challenging for them, as it is for all who seek to live justly in an unjust world. But let us not dismiss their idealism. Let us instead offer guidance with love and understanding, showing them a better way through compassion and selfless action, rather than judgment and fear. For truly, the greatest among us are those who serve.