15 Texas A&M international students might have quietly lost their ability to stay in the U.S.

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Fifteen international students at Texas A&M University may no longer be allowed to remain legally in the U.S. after their immigration status was changed in a federal database.

It is unclear why the federal government revoked the A&M students’ ability to stay in the country legally but a university official said the students had not committed any dangerous offenses known to the university.

A&M did not name the students. In an email sent Tuesday morning and obtained by The Texas Tribune, International Student and Scholar Services director Samantha Clement provided details about 11 students who had been affected. She said one of the students has already left the country. Eight of them are currently enrolled and three already graduated. Ten students attended the flagship campus and one went to Texas A&M-Galveston. All but one attended A&M as graduate students, Clement said.

Tuesday evening, university officials said the number of students affected had risen from 11 to 15.

University officials said they discovered the first change to a students' immigration status in a database on March 28 and it has risen from there. The database is maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and used to keep track of international students and exchange visitors.

Once a student’s status is marked as terminated in the database, they are no longer allowed to work in the U.S. or re-enter the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may also launch an investigation to confirm they’ve left the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s website. Students may have a grace period during which they and their dependents must depart or apply for reinstatement, the site says.

In a statement Tuesday, A&M officials said they have contacted the affected students and the international student and scholar community on campus to provide information and support.

Texas A&M had more than 6,000 international students enrolled in the fall of 2024. They come from 137 countries, with the top five being India, China, Republic of Korea, Mexico and Taiwan, according to student demographics posted on its website.

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 300 international students across the country in the last three weeks, Axios reported. Officials say they have done this in part because of those students’ involvement in pro-Palestinian protests last year. It was immediately unclear whether any of the affected A&M students participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

At the University of Texas at Austin last spring, mass protests demanded the university divest from manufacturers supplying Israel weapons in its strikes on Gaza. Although the demonstration shows no signs of violence, the university called in state police, which ultimately arrested dozens of people. Gov. Greg Abbott said the demonstrators had joined in "hate-filled, antisemitic protests" and should be expelled. The students said they were exercising their free speech rights.

Lawmakers are now grappling with how to address a rise in antisemitism without chilling free speech.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services announced it would begin considering antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. Specifically, the agency said it would be looking for content that shows the immigrants, including international students at institutions where protests took place, are "endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity."

"There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world's terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here," said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Cesar Garcia Hernandez, a law professor at Ohio University, said immigration officials typically first alert the university and the student if there is a problem with their legal status in the country.

“But what we’re seeing recently is that the revocation happens with absolutely no warning except these broad statements from high-level officials like the president and the secretary of state about political disagreements they have with the positions the students have taken,” he said. “As a result, there’s no opportunity for either the university or the student to figure out whether there is some response they can submit.”

Another immigration attorney, Faye Kolly, echoed those concerns with the administration’s current process.

“Some of the best and brightest international students may go elsewhere if they can’t count on their status being safe because they are randomly revoked,” Kolly said.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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