Federal Visa Crackdown Hits UTEP and NMSU Students

The past few months has been a rollercoaster of emotions when it comes to what news is making headlines. From tariffs, to immigration and beyond. And most recently, college students at local universities woke up to the news that their visas were revoked.

According to KVIA, The University of Texas at El Paso just confirmed that 10 students had their visas revoked. Yep, ten. UTEP says they found out through changes in the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) database—not because DHS gave them a friendly heads-up or anything. 

“We are looking at each case individually,” UTEP told KVIA, adding that support will be offered where needed.

Meanwhile, over at EPCC, officials say, “To my knowledge, we have not had any students' visas revoked.”

Students across campuses aren’t staying silent. One UTEP student told ABC-7:

“If a student has a visa, that means they’re doing the right thing… I don’t think anybody should be getting their visas revoked.” 

Regardless of your political views, it does suck to hear that hard working students have to deal with this inconvenience when all they are trying to do is get a good education to better themselves.

New Mexico State University Is Feeling The Visa Impact, Too

In Las Cruces, NMSU confirmed six students have had their visas revoked. Interim Provost Lakshmi Reddi says a task force is on it and watching the situation very closely.

One NMSU student summed it all up perfectly: 

“Education is power—and taking that from somebody is taking away their power.”