Kaine, Warner rebuke Trump's team for 'chaos' over student visas

Virginia's U.S. senators are seeking answers from top Trump administration officials, asserting that the "sudden and unexplained revocations" of Virginia college students' visas are causing "chaos."

The Trump administration has recently revoked the visas of at least two dozen international students or recent alumni at George Mason University, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia.

Nationally, the administration has terminated the legal status of hundreds of international students. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that several students whose visas were revoked have filed lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security, asserting that the government did not have grounds to cancel their visas.

"We write to you today expressing extreme concern after hearing from institutions of higher education throughout Virginia and the country that the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security are working together to revoke the nonimmigrant ... visas of their students," Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and to Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The senators said the revocations are used to terminate the students’ records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, potentially affecting the students’ ability to attend school.

"The chaos caused by your actions is not acceptable," the senators wrote. "We believe in the rule of law and that immigration laws should be enforced. That starts with the Constitution and its guarantees of free speech and due process."

Virginia Commonwealth University said Friday that the visas of two international students and a recent graduate had been revoked. Several dozen students and other supporters protested the visa revocations on Monday at VCU.

Kaine and Warner told Rubio and Noem they want to know:

how many nonimmigrant visas the State Department has revoked for people attending schools in Virginia and the justification for revoking each visa;
how many of these students’ records were terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System;
whether the government has terminated such records for any Virginia students whose nonimmigrant visas have not been revoked by the State Department, and the evidence that led to such a decision;
how Virginia students and schools would be notified of such revocations.
The reasons for the visa revocations at the Virginia schools are unclear.

At some universities around the country the Trump administration has targeted high-profile students who were involved in pro-Palestinian causes. That includes Mahmoud Khalil, a detained student activist who led protests at Columbia University.

In speaking with reporters March 28, Rubio defended steps to revoke certain students’ visas.

"They’re visitors to the country," he said. "If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign – to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa."

Kaine and Warner wrote that "If there are international students in the United States in violation of our criminal or immigration laws, they should be removed."

But the senators asserted that "summarily revoking these students’ visas and/or terminating their records ... without any notice to the students or their schools undermines confidence in State and DHS’s judgment and erodes Americans’ trust in the immigration system and the rule of law."