Students close their laptops and notebooks as Professor José Pablo Dundore-Arias thanks his class for a wonderful semester.
“See you around. Say hi, reach out if you need anything,” he says. “For all of you who are staying around, we'll see you next semester and thank you for your participation.”
Dundore-Arias is an associate professor and coordinator of the Agricultural Plant and Soil Sciences Program at CSUMB. He came to the US from Costa Rica on a student visa in 2008, to pursue his graduate studies.
Dundore-Arias says the only visa complications he ever had were when his visa documents and passport displayed his name differently.
Times have changed.
This spring, international students have faced unexpected trouble under the Trump administration. More than 1,800 visas were canceled.
Dundore-Arias says he’s never seen anything like this before.
“What we're seeing now is completely unprecedented,” he says.
International students at CSUMB worry their visas could be revoked without notice or cause.
One international student from Japan, studying under a J-1 visa, became afraid after her home university warned her of cancellations.
She agreed to speak, but only anonymously because of the current situation.
“[They’re] forced to go back to Japan, or their countries,” she says of students who lost their visas, “and I'm scared.”
She says it's unfair and if she were in the position of having her visa canceled, she can’t imagine how she would accept it.
Riyo, another international student from Japan, asked that we only use her first name. She expressed the same feelings after a similar message from her home university.
“I’m kind of scared because I got [a] notification that many students started to like [lose visas,]” she says.
Other international students chose not to speak with KAZU because of fear and uncertainty. The United States is traditionally a popular destination for international students. A St. John's University study found more than one million students from abroad chose the United States during the 2023-2024 school year.
The federal Student Exchange Visitor Information System keeps track of international students in the United States. It tracks unauthorized employment, enrollment as a full-time student, and any new changes to the student's status.
In the past, if a student's visa was revoked or canceled, the student would go through due process.
Hollister immigration attorney Lizett Rodriguez Pena says that has changed under the Trump administration.
“As we've seen in many of the immigration cases, they're not following what is the due process,” she says, “or what is the the standard laws of the Immigration [and] Nationality Act.”
Rodriguez Pena says many students who have received a cancellation notice have fully complied with their visa requirements—according to the government’s own information system. She says visa holders should not shy away from expressing themselves.
“Certain institutions are being targeted. Certain students from certain nationalities are being targeted,” she says. So it’s important to make sure that “when you do go to protest, that you are aware about your rights.”
CSUMB is already seeing an impact from the current climate. Some prospective international students are rethinking their plans. Dundore-Arias says he’s heard from some who tell him they may not come to this country after all.
“Because of our close proximity to the ag industry, they wanted to pursue degrees here at CSUMB,” he says. “Now they are rethinking or considering other options out of fear or trying to avoid the potential risk of being in a vulnerable situation.”
Dundore-Arias says he was privileged to never experience a similar situation when he was on a student visa.
And students aren’t the only ones worried. Dundore-Arias says he’s heard from staff who are also uncertain about what will happen to them.
“They are still fearing what would happen if they travel. If they come back, if there are any issues at the airport, would they be able to be back to teach their classes or take care of their own?”
CSUMB said in a statement it remains dedicated to supporting its staff and students. And confirmed that by the end of the Spring 2025 semester, no international students on campus had their visas revoked or cancelled.
CSUMB holds the broadcast license for KAZU.
Eduardo Gonzalez-Torres was a Spring 2025 KAZU News intern.
