Skand Vijay won’t attempt to visit his home in India until he graduates from Carnegie Mellon University. He’s too nervous about the possibility of not being allowed back into the United States.
Vijyas hasn’t done anything to jeopardize his visa. Still, as other fellow international students are having their visas revoked, he doesn’t want to take any chances.
“I am scared that if I go back and I’m
The mood around Carnegie Mellon’s campus Thursday was heightened and tense, a day after student Jayson Ma went public with news that his visa had been terminated a semester before he was scheduled to graduate. Ma had a DUI in 2023 for which he completed Allegheny County’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, according to his attorney.
He has not gotten an official explanation from the government about his visa revocation.
Similar stories are playing out across the country with international students being targeted by the Trump administration. Several colleges in Pennsylvania, including Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania, have been impacted.
Immigration attorneys have said the students being targeted have had a run-in with the law — with some as minor as traffic infractions. In other cases, the criminal charges were withdrawn or dismissed.
Vijay, 25, came to America last year to pursue a master’s degree in information systems management at Carnegie Mellon. He hasn’t been to India since August. He’s expecting to graduate in December.
“I heard that many people who are going back in between the semesters to their home, they’re actually facing a lot of issues in coming back to the U.S.,” he said, such as more security and background checks.
Vijay said he hasn’t experienced any issues with his visa, and the process of undergoing background checks was “pretty smooth” through Carnegie Mellon.
But many international students are anxious.
“The first priority is to complete the education without any hindrances like visa, like these things happening,” Vijay said.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to answer specific questions Wednesday about the criteria the Department is using to revoke international student visas.
Under the radar
Vijay said he has been careful in everything he does and hasn’t been active on social media.
“I should not do anything wrong … and I should follow all the guidelines mentioned by the government and should not do anything that is not in interest of university reputation and policy,” he said.
There’s a lot at stake for international students, Vijay said.
“We put a lot into our education,” he said.
Student Andrew Timmins said he was concerned to hear about multiple student visas being revoked at Carnegie Mellon.
“I think all of these issues with visas are really scary,” he said. “These students are just going to school. The possibility of losing the ability to do that — or having serious repercussions — that is terrifying.”
Timmins, 30, of Austin, Texas is pursuing a Ph.D. in material science at Carnegie Mellon. He said international students deserve answers from the federal government about the confusion surrounding visas.
“I think that just puts the students in a really, really difficult position and great deal of uncertainty,” he said. “I think we should give students the clarity and respect.”
As a representative in Carnegie Mellon’s Graduate Student Assembly, Timmins said he has been trying to find ways to support international students.
“I think it is just so unbelievably cruel to essentially put students in a position where they came to a country to pursue an education and are now being put in a position of being told, ‘You said something we don’t like, and you are going to face repercussions because of that’ — to the extent of being deported?” he said. “That is insane.”
Timmins said he believes many people didn’t realize the visa threats could be carried out so close to home.
“The idea that ‘Oh, that could happen here,’ I think hasn’t always permeated,” he said, until now.
Lillian Zhao saw an email from Carnegie Mellon about visa revocations while she was in class Monday. Though she was shocked, as a U.S. citizen, she doesn’t have as much to worry about.
“I don’t have to be scared of the same things that international students are scared for,” she said. “They have a lot more to risk when speaking publicly about politics, protesting, so they don’t have the same privileges as citizens.”
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Zhao, 23, grew up in the Pittsburgh area after her parents came over from China. She’s now a senior at Carnegie Mellon studying business and statistics.
“She didn’t have to worry about her visa getting revoked back then,” she said of her mother’s experience at Carnegie Mellon. “It’s a lot more dangerous for international students (now).”
Zhao’s parents and older sister got their citizenship recently, about five years ago, but Zhao became a citizen through birthright.
“I feel lucky that I’m already born here,” she said, and she believes people take the United States for granted. “I think it’s a good country to live in … in China, it’s much worse. People don’t realize … how lucky they are here … you don’t know how bad it is other places.”
“I know that international students are feeling very uneasy about everything,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t escalate any further.”
Zhao has also noticed comments related to the visa issues on the social media app Yik Yak, which is geared toward college students.
“Someone had said that they’re terrified about their status, but then I saw someone comment, reply to them and say, ‘If you don’t attend the protests, if you don’t break any laws, you should be fine, and also stay in your dorm as much as possible,’” she said.
Carnegie Mellon students are “smart people” who have a lot to contribute to the workforce, Zhao said.
“They’re here studying,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to worry about having their visas be revoked — especially for a reason like free speech.”
Vijay encouraged prospective international students to make sure all of their documents are complete.
“If you’re capable, you’ll be invited or accepted to (a) good college,” he said. “Make sure that everything is correct.”
He addressed illegal immigration into the United States, saying he believes people are trying to escape guidelines put in place by the federal government.
“We need to actually follow everything that is mentioned by the government, and we should not do anything illegal to just pursue our dreams,” Vijay said.