UMass says several student visas revoked by federal government

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of five international students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the school's chancellor said Friday.

Chancellor Javier Reyes said their student statuses have also been terminated by the federal government. No reason was given for the revocations. UMass didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

"The university was not notified by federal authorities of these status revocations and only became aware as a result of proactive checks in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database," Reyes said in an email to the university community Friday night. "We will continue monitoring SEVIS for further updates."

Reyes said the school is working to connect the students, who have not been identified, with on- and off-campus resources. It's also urging students on visas who are contacted by the federal government, as well as students with other immigration situations such as temporary protected status or asylum, to get in touch with university legal and global affairs offices.

UMass Boston issued a similar notice saying visas had been revoked for two students as well as "five other members of our university community including recent graduates participating in training programs."

News of the visa revocations is the latest action by the federal government against international students. Last month Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk of Turkey was arrested on a Somerville street by plainclothes immigration agents and transported to a detention center in Louisiana after her visa was revoked. Öztürk's attorneys have stated the move was in response to an op-ed in a campus newspaper critical of Tufts' relationships with companies that held ties to Israel.