This past Monday, President Eric Kaler sent out an immigration update to Case Western Reserve University’s campus, highlighting the nationwide termination of many student visas. In the email, he emphasizes the termination of four student visas at our own school—a horrifying sentence to read in bold.

CWRU has a relatively large international student population, with 749 international undergraduate students–roughly 11% of the undergraduate population—in fall 2024. Despite this, there has been an alarming lack of information regarding the revoked visas and the procedure that at-risk students should take in the case that their visa is revoked. 

Because of the current contentious state of immigration, the CWRU administration is encouraging international students not to travel outside of the country. This, of course, provides the perfect opportunity for the school to promote its “discounted summer housing and dining options” for those who must stay in America. Who knows? Perhaps with National Institutes of Health funding cuts looming on the horizon, the school really will be struggling for funds soon.

This summer, as usual, courses will be offered at a discounted rate to incentivize students to attend the summer session. The undergraduate tuition will be $1,376 per credit hour, which is half of the standard tuition rate. This price tag, although decreased, is still relatively high, with the average three credit course amounting to over $4,000. As for housing, spring transitional housing will be $320 with an additional cost of up to $2,800 for the entire summer. Despite Kaler’s email informing students to check the website for discounted dining options, the website has yet to be updated with this information as of the time this article was written. 

Kaler’s email comes in the midst of hundreds of student visa terminations nationwide. These cancellations have been cited to be connected to things “as minor as roommate disputes or as off-campus traffic tickets” to the exercise of freedom of speech, particularly in regards to pro-Palestinian protest participation. Among some of the schools affected by the national visa revocations are Colorado State University (where university officials escorted some students to the airport to fly home), University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of California, Los Angeles and The Ohio State University. 

Despite many of these reasons for revocation being flimsy at best, universities are still expected to go along with the federal government’s decisions, emphasizing a clear breach of constitutional rights. At a press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio went as far as to say, “It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” as if visas are something that can simply be snatched by one power-hungry man with hurt feelings at the drop of a hat. Well, that is certainly what it’s starting to seem like.

It’s completely ridiculous to expect international students to carry their “passports, I-94s, visa stamps, EADs, Permanent Resident cards, I-485 receipts, etc.” with them everywhere they go. In fact, it harkens to our not so distant past in which Black people were expected to carry “certificates of freedom” to avoid being labeled a fugitive and forcibly taken. Most people can agree that the segregation of the 1800s was horrible. They can agree that it was inhumane to expect people to carry papers to confirm their existence as human beings. Yet, somehow it is difficult for the Trump administration to see the clear-as-day parallels between the past and the sheer insanity of what they are doing today. 

Time and time again, we have seen America devolve into a hateful brand of nationalism where those with privileged backgrounds are given preferential, humane treatment over the rest of the nation’s population. Today, international student journalists are being told to keep quiet about their rights—see Columbia University, where after Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest, international students were “urged to avoid publishing work about the war in Gaza, student protests, and Khalil’s arrest”—for fear of governmental retribution. We now have a government where retribution is merely expected for speaking out against unfair practices and policies. Further than that, retribution is expected for merely existing as an immigrant.

Recently, Harvard President Alan Garber made a statement opposing President Donald Trump’s recent demands of the school: “No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Similarly, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber said, “I think once you make concessions, it’s hard not to make them again.” Some universities are starting to speak out against Trump’s policies despite the threat of backlash and funding cuts. Nevertheless, many do not seem ready to contest these recent visa challenges due to the lack of information surrounding their revocations and questions of legality. At this point in time, though, it is critical that schools step up to provide support for the students they admitted into their programs. This includes the creation of an emergency fund for students, detailed procedural information for those who are concerned and potentially connections to legal counsel. It is the least they can do after recognizing a student’s promise and welcoming them to study at their school.