Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) defended student visa holders, saying the U.S. should treat them “fairly.”
Lankford joined KFOR, a local Oklahoma station, for a panel discussion as the Trump administration has revoked hundreds of foreign student visas at dozens of colleges.
“I do understand that if a student’s here, they’ve gotta follow American law, they can’t challenge American way of life, they’re our guest, but we also want to make sure they’re our guest, we’re treating them fairly in the process,” Lankford said.
The Oklahoma Republican appeared to break with the Trump administration after student visas have been revoked across the country. The move began with students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year, but the reasons for some revocations have been as minor as traffic violations.
Lankford said there were some students who protested “against the United States,” and the administration has the authority to revoke their visas “just like that.”
However, he noted that there was at least one Oklahoma student visa holder who had no “discipline problem” but had their visa rescinded.
“There’s a student, that we can’t find any discipline problem that was an issue there, so we’re just asking the State Department to say, ‘Hey, help us understand this particular visa,’” Lankford said.
The situation has left universities checking immigration databases to find out whether their students are still able to be in the U.S. The State Department has declined requests to share numbers about how many visas have been revoked, meaning it’s not known exactly how many students have been impacted.
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