BUZZ
The Trump administration has reportedly revoked 8,000 student visas since returning to the White House nearly a year ago.
In total, the administration revoked 100,000 visas, according to numbers first given to Fox News by the State Department.
“The majority of the revocations were for business and tourist travelers who overstayed their visas,” the news outlet reported.
“But some 8,000 students and 2,500 specialized workers also lost their legal status,” Fox News reported. “A department spokesperson said a majority of the students and workers who lost their visas had criminal encounters with law enforcement.”
Drugs were a key issue behind some of the student visa losses.
“Nearly 500 students lost visas for drug possession and distribution and hundreds of foreign workers lost visas because they were believed to be abusing children, according to a department spokesperson,” who spoke to Fox News.
The Trump administration previously earned praise from several conservative commentators after it announced 6,000 student visas had been pulled as of last fall.
“Student visas at best are a way to bring foreigners from many countries to learn from our best universities,” Hannah Fay, a communications fellow, told The Fix via email last September. “We allow a few of the most talented to remain and work, but the majority go home to build their own countries,”
“Despite the clear intent of the law that they be temporary, many students see a visa as the first step in what they believe is an entitlement to remain for life,” Fay said.
The National Association of Scholars, a higher education reform group, said the administration is correct to weed out “terrorist sympathizers.”
“It would seem to me a good policy to review all existing student visas and revoke those belonging to known terrorist sympathizers,” Chance Layton, the director of communications for NAS, said via email. “Any arrest that occurs during anti-American agitation, protest, or subversive action is a reason to revoke a visa. Any act of espionage or technology transfer is a reason to revoke a student visa.”
On the other hand, Trump has announced plans to flood the country with 600,000 Chinese students as part of negotiations with the Communist country. The decision drew criticism from national security experts, The Fix previously reported.
Foreign student enrollment is also lower overall, compared to years past.
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