Nigerian students in the United States are at risk of having their student visas revoked following an announcement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that the U.S. is likely to revoke more student visas in the coming days.
This is coming in the aftermath of the arrest and detention of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration aims to deport over his pro-Palestinian activism.
As a result, Rubio announced the “Catch and Revoke” initiative, which aims to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and potentially revoke the student visas of foreign students perceived to support Hamas or other designated terrorist organizations.
“In the days to come, you should expect more visas will be revoked as we identify people that we should have never allowed in,” Rubio told reporters on Friday following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers.
How this affects Nigerian International students
For Nigerian students, this decision means heightened scrutiny of their social media activity and involvement in demonstrations.
The US government will be monitoring to identify students whose actions might be seen as supporting banned organizations like IPOB, movements advocating for Sharia law, or any activity seen as promoting insurrection or terrorism.
This increased surveillance could have serious consequences for Nigerian students in the U.S. if their actions are deemed to align with such groups or causes.
