MADISON, Wis. — Dozens of international students, alumni and recent graduates at universities around Wisconsin have had their visas terminated, according to the university officials.
UW-Madison said as of Wednesday, April 9, visas were terminated by the U.S. government for 15 current students and 11 alumni who were on employment extensions.
UW-Milwaukee on Wednesday said that as of April 9, 10 international students and recent grads had their visas revoked or status terminated.
An additional four other people affiliated with other Universities of Wisconsin schools have also had visas terminated. Universities of Wisconsin did not confirm which universities these were.
Marquette University confirmed as of April 10, one international graduate student's visa was terminated.
Officials at UW-Madison said the university played no role in the terminations there and that while it’s not an uncommon thing to happen, it has been seeing an elevated “volume and frequency” of them in the past week. These terminations typically mean that those individuals should “depart the United States immediately.”
Across the nation, international students who have been involved in protests, such as those pertaining to the Israel-Hamas war, have faced deportation. At the end of last month, an international student at Cornell University who had been involved in pro-Palestinian protests, was asked to surrender to immigration authorities.
Both UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee said they do not think that the terminations of student visas are related to free speech events or political activity. UW-Madison officials said it isn’t clear what the rationale is for the terminations and that it’s working to learn why they occurred.
Marquette University said it does not believe the termination was "related to any actions taken by the student while at Marquette."
A similar thing happened at N.C. State University at the end of last week. Many of these deletions of student records are happening without going through the colleges first, according to school officials.
UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee said they will work with the affected people to provide support, such as advising them of any consequences and, if requested, providing information about their legal resources.
“International students, faculty, and staff are important members of the UW–Madison community, and the university deeply values their presence,” officials said in the release.
Marquette's Office of International Education said it's monitoring the situation. The office said it has been in communication with the university's international students, providing information and resources.
"As a Catholic, Jesuit institution, Marquette University remains steadfast in its commitment to serve our international students and scholars — who enrich our culture with a diversity of voices — as a welcoming learning community that is open to people from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives," Marquette officials said in a statement. "We are also committed to following the law and related university policy with respect to immigration enforcement actions by U.S. officials."
Both Marquette and UW-Milwaukee said they are not aware of any Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions involving individuals at the university or any federal law enforcement activity on its campus.
The terminations come in the context of large-scale immigration crackdowns by the Trump administration.
