The Trump administration announced April 25 it would reinstate international student visas, leaving many concerned for their legal status. 

The announcement comes after more than 1,500 student visas were abruptly canceled over the past several weeks. Until immigration officials create a new review system for the termination of visas for international students and professors, they will retain their legal status, according to The New York Times. 

Judy, a graduate student from China who requested anonymity over fears about her own visa status, said she was anxious and uncertain in the wake of the revocations. 

“What they could do can really change so many people’s lives, but they didn’t take this seriously,” she said. “It makes me feel so mad.”

A BU senior and member of a Latino club on campus who requested to remain anonymous out of fear for safety, described the visa revocations as ironic and contradictory.

“The most important thing is that they came here legally, which is sort of the main problem that the Trump administration has with migration,” he said. “You emphasize so much legal migration, and then you remove the tools for that legal migration to happen.”

The BU senior, who is an American citizen born in Florida, said he is grateful for his status, which allows him legal protections that many others in his Latino club do not have. 

“Many of them cannot go back home or were not able to go back home for a spring break or any sort of break or any family emergency that occurred throughout these past months,” he said. 

He said many of his friends are facing hardships with the policy, since they’re unsure when their families will be able to visit them in the U.S. or when they’ll be able to travel home to see their loved ones. 

Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, an attorney and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Massachusetts, said the administration aims to “quiet” college students, an effort which she sees as accomplished. 

“It’s had the effect of scaring students, scaring families, and the result is to quiet, silence people who feel vulnerable, because they don’t want this to happen to them,” Amatul-Wadud said.

Even with the reinstatement of student visas, the damage has already been done, she said. 

“We’ve had students who are worried that maybe a protest they went to or social media posts that they made 12 to 18 months [ago] puts them at risk for some sort of a revocation,” Amatul-Wadud said. 

Judy said many students she knows who had their visas revoked now feel differently about life in America, and some plan to go back to China.

“They just feel this is not the country they wish to stay [in],” she said. “People come to the United States because they want a better life. They want something that they couldn’t get from their home country, like the freedom, the human rights, the civil rights.”

Amatul-Wadud discussed the arrest of Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk earlier this year, highlighting video footage that captured the moment she questioned the identity of the plainclothes ICE agents. Rather than respond, the agents proceeded with the arrest, she said.

“At that point, when I watched that video, I realized that any ‘know your rights’ [cards] that I’ve given to students, it doesn’t matter what your rights are,” Amatul-Wadud said. 

She expressed concerns with the legality of the revocations, which often are done without due process and target political speech. 

“This country was founded on religious freedom and freedom of speech,” she said. “To sit here in 2025 and see somebody being smashed off of their college campus because of political dissent doesn’t sound like the American way.” 

Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Massachusetts, wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press that the “unlawful termination” of student visas “struck terror in international students across the country.” 

“ACLU affiliates have brought over a dozen lawsuits against this move — and now the administration seems to be reactivating the SEVIS records of at least some students, allowing them to continue their studies,” Rose wrote. “International students and scholars are a vital part of our universities, our economy, and our nation.”

For Judy and the BU senior, the future of student visas and the legal status they provide and protect is unpredictable. 

“The only thing that remains true at all times is hope,” he said. “I would tell everybody to not lose their hope.”