Walkout and rally at University of Delaware after 8 international students have visas revoked

Wednesday, April 16, 2025
NEWARK, Del. (WPVI) -- Students at the University of Delaware held a walkout and rally on campus Wednesday in response to the federal government revoking the visas of eight international students.

That includes three current and five former students.

The university says it will continue to closely monitor for additional developments, but students at the rally said the school is not doing enough to protect those who've come from abroad to study.

"What we would like to see is legal support for those students, we would like to see a cessation of working with ICE and other federal agencies," said University of Delaware student Emma Abrams.

At least 901 students at more than 128 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. Advocacy groups collecting reports from colleges say hundreds more students could be caught up in the crackdown.



The Trump Administration appears to be targeting students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

It's unclear if that was the case for students in Delaware.

We've also learned three students at the University of Pennsylvania, eight students at Rowan and several others at Temple University have also had their U.S. status terminated, though it remains unclear why.

We spoke to a local immigration attorney, who does not represent any of the cases, but knows the process.

"Before you take away someone's status, you have to give them their day in court. What these judges are doing is saying, 'Okay, wait. We're not saying that you can't kick these people out, but they need their day in court.' And that's what these restraining orders are about," said Jonathan Grode, managing partner at Green and Spiegel.



Around 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year - a source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges.

International students are not eligible for federal financial aid, and their ability to pay tuition often factors into whether they will be admitted to American schools. Often, they pay full price.

Many of the students losing their legal status are from India and China, which together account for more than half the international students at American colleges.

But the terminations have not been limited to those from any one part of the world, lawyers said.

Four students from two Michigan universities are suing Trump administration officials after their F-1 student status was terminated last week. Their attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, Ramis Wadood, said the students never received a clear reason why.



"We don't know, and that's the scary part," he said.

The students were informed of the status terminations by their universities via email, which came as a shock, Wadood said.

The reason given was that there was a "criminal records check and/or that their visa was revoked," Wadood said, but none of them were charged or convicted of crimes.

Some had either speeding or parking tickets, but one didn't have any, he said. Only one of the students had known their entry visa was revoked, Wadood said.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel's war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.



But many students say they don't fall under those categories. Students have filed lawsuits in several states, arguing they were denied due process.

In New Hampshire, a federal judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to restore the status of a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, Xiaotian Liu. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Wisconsin issued a similar order, ruling the government could not take steps to detain or revoke the visa of a University of Wisconsin-Madison gradate student.

Two graduate students at Montana State University, Bozeman, on Tuesday were granted a temporary restraining order by a federal judge in Montana, restoring their terminated legal status and shielding them from efforts to remove them from the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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