One week after the University of Colorado said four international students had their visas revoked by federal officials, the school now says that number has tripled.
In a statement on Tuesday, the university said 12 students across all four of its campuses have had their student visa status revoked by the federal government. Last week, the school said impacted students were only enrolled at its Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses, but Tuesday, that grew to its Denver campus and Anschutz Medical campus in Aurora.
This brings the total number of international college students in Colorado whose visas were revoked to at least 22.
The federal agencies involved in the revocations — namely the U.S. Department of State and Department of Homeland Security — haven’t told CBS News Colorado why the visas were revoked, despite numerous emails seeking comment. The University of Colorado said on Tuesday that it also had not received any explanation.
“Federal agencies involved in these revocations are not sharing with CU the specific reasons for their actions,” the university said in a statement. “We will not be releasing ongoing updates or names and details of any specific student circumstances due to federal laws that protect the privacy rights of students and their educational data unless court ordered to do so.”
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Last week, the notification of those visas being revoked at CU came at the same time that Colorado State University said five of its students — and then a sixth — were also revoked.
The U.S. Department of State told CBS News Colorado last week that “The United States has zero tolerance for non-citizens who violate U.S. laws. Those who break the law, including students, may face visa refusal, visa revocation, and/or deportation,” but declined to say if any of the impacted students were accused of any crimes.
A CSU student and organizer told CBS Colorado last week that she knows the CSU students whose visas were revoked and that five out of the six of them have already returned voluntarily to their home countries.
Those students were all from the broader Middle East region and some were involved in non-violent protests over Israel’s bombing of Gaza but never broke any laws, the CSU student said.
The revocations have raised First Amendment concerns among immigrants’ rights and civil liberties advocates and attorneys, who say the Trump administration is revoking student visas for people who engage in protected speech activities that the administration objects to, such as calling for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and the U.S. government’s and some universities’ support for Israel.
F-1 visas — the type that were revoked in these case — allow international students to study at U.S. universities. The revocation of the Colorado students’ visas and hundreds of others around the country came after several high-profile arrests of international students, including Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Alireza Doroudi.
Attorneys do say, however, that universities have no say in the process of student revocations, and once the federal government revokes their visas, there’s nothing the university can do to keep them as students.
“I do think that expectation is unfair to the universities and colleges,” immigration attorney Brian Green, of Littleton, told CBS News Colorado. “To my knowledge, the schools are not part of the (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) termination process. They do not have a say in the outcome.”
The University of Colorado says it’s doing what it can to support the students whose visas were revoked.
“At CU we are focused on supporting the success of all of our students, including international students. Each one of our students is seeking to advance their career and the lives of their family, and we understand the anxieties that visa revocations cause to impacted students. We urge any international student with questions or concerns to reach out to their campus’ international student office as well as their home country embassy,” it said on Tuesday. “We will not be releasing ongoing updates or names and details of any specific student circumstances due to federal laws that protect the privacy rights of students and their educational data unless court ordered to do so.”
Neither DHS nor the State Department responded to emailed requests for comment Tuesday.
