UPDATE 4/9/2025 2:45 pm: 22 enrolled students and graduates have had their visas and SEVIS statuses terminated.
UPDATE 4/9/2025 1:00 pm: GEO has confirmed that seven University of Michigan graduate students have had their visas revoked.
APRIL 8, 2025 — Over the weekend, the Graduate Employees’ Organization – AFT Local 3550 at the University of Michigan, a labor union representing over 2,000 Graduate Student Instructors and Staff Assistants at the University of Michigan, learned that the U.S. Department of State arbitrarily revoked at least four international graduate students’ F-1 visas. These graduate students are enrolled in Statistics, Architecture, and the School for the Environment and Sustainability; the fourth is not yet known. To our knowledge, two students have already left the country in order to avoid ICE abduction and detention. One of the grads was actively teaching as a Graduate Student Instructor, and their undergraduate students will return to a classroom this week without their GSI. While we are still trying to gather as much information as possible, it appears that these revocations are not related to pro-Palestine advocacy but are part of a wave of nationwide visa revocations, often but not always related to minor infractions.
By moving the deportation machine of ICE and CBP into spaces of higher education, the US Department of State is expanding the definition of who they consider “deportable.” We have every reason to believe the circle of deportability will continue to grow unless working people put a stop to it. The Trump Administration’s baseless visa revocations and violent ICE abductions are a direct affront to organized labor in higher education, where graduate workers have been the leading edge of labor militancy, including our own open-ended strike of 2023. GEO views the State Department’s actions as an attempt to intimidate higher education workers and break our unity, but we are undeterred: we will continue to fight for and protect each other.
Shamefully, University of Michigan leadership has not just been silent in the face of the government’s assault on our rights, but has actively capitulated to the Trump administration by violently cracking down on protected student speech and preemptively dismantling DEI programs across campus. At the time of this writing, neither Chief Legal Counsel Timothy Lynch nor University of Michigan President Santa Ono has informed the campus community of the visa revocations or the fate of our four colleagues. We call on the University of Michigan, with its vast financial resources and political power, to stand up for its 8,000+ international students. We ask that the University offer access to legal support for those affected, allow students to continue their programs remotely, and continue to fund graduate students outside of the United States. We urge the University of Michigan to take action in federal court to halt the unilateral termination of student visas.
In the face of employer inaction, graduate workers have launched the Worker Solidarity Fund to help connect graduate students with legal resources, aid in emergency flights and housing, and organize a defense campaign to protect our international coworkers. $8,000 has been already raised and funds are steadily growing. Supporters can donate here: bit.ly/GEOWorkerSolidarity
Press Contact: Zoe Dong and Lavinia Dunagan, GEO Communication Committee Chairs, commchair@geo3550.org
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