45 international students in Utah lose visas, including two at Snow

EPHRAIM — Two Snow College students are among at least 45 in Utah who have had their student visas revoked since the first of April, the college confirmed Tuesday. But none of the schools have provided many details about what countries the students are from, the reasons given by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) for the actions, or how the students are coping.

Numbers released by other colleges include 22 at the University of Utah (according to the Salt Lake Tribune, one of the highest totals in the nation for a single college in the recent wave of revocations), 10 at Utah Tech in St. George, five at Weber State University, three at Salt Lake Community College and three at Utah Valley University. Utah State University did not release numbers but described their number as “very low.”

However, the numbers have been changing day by day. And no number has been publicly reported by Southern Utah or Westminster universities. The U. of U., the only school in Utah to mention where students who have lost their visas are from, said half of affected students are from China and the other half are from the Middle East or India.

Snow sent an email to all employees saying, “We are actively working with affected students to ensure they have access to the support they need during this time.” The email added, “As a public institution, we follow all applicable state and federal laws.”

Among reasons given by the Trump administration for visa revocations was participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.”

Marci Larsen, assistant to the president at Snow, said there had been no such demonstrations on Snow campus.

The news of Snow students being affected prompt an angry outpouring on Facebook. A post by a faculty member saying “Two students at Snow College had their visas pulled. No explanation.” triggered 145 reactions and 43 comments.

“Not even just at big ‘name’ institutions people know,” one person said. “This is terrifying.”

One person wrote, “Are we in Nazi Germany??”

Other typical comments were, “That is horrific,” “Terrifying indeed,” “Horrible,” “Messed Up,” and “Infuriating.”

A music instructor at another school wrote that students at her institution were given 48 hours to get out of the county. She added sarcastically, “We all know those nefarious oboe players are such a danger to us all. They use chamber music as a recruiting tool for the El Salvadorian gangs.”

One man who posted on Facebook said students at Utah Tech “were slated to graduate in three weeks and now have 15 days to pack up and leave.”

The man said a dean at Utah Tech suspected one of the students had his visa pulled because of a parking ticket.

One person who posted was from Central Michigan University. “The same thing is happening here…,” he said. “The only good thing is the CMU authorities aren’t turning those students in. We are fighting.”

A letter the U. of U. sent out, which was obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, urged international students whose visas have been cancelled to leave the United States voluntarily as soon as possible.

“Remaining in the United States without lawful immigration status can result in fines, detention, and/or deportation… Please note that deportation can take place at a time that does not allow the person being deported to secure possessions or concluded affairs in the United States.”

The letter also says a student, if deported, may be sent somewhere other than his or her native country.