A Florida student lost his visa over protests. Here's what it was like

TAMPA, Fla. -- Joseph Charry said he didn’t come to the University of South Florida to protest.

But the Colombian student’s role in pro-Palestine protests last spring led him to temporarily lose his visa and return home, an experience thousands of international students across the country are now facing for an array of reasons from protests to traffic infractions.

While some of those have been reinstated in recent days, and prominent cases of students who were detained for their participation in protests are making gains in courts, the situation has remained murky for international students.

In Florida, the numbers are unclear. Some universities have kept track of the numbers, while others have pointed to a fluid situation. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in an email that the department does not generally provide statistics on visa revocations, and that the number changes every day.

Charry, who is now a student at Hillsborough Community College, came to the U.S. in 2022 to study video art at USF.

When he arrived, he attended an event where student organizations were recruiting new members in hopes of making friends outside of class. He was intrigued by a chart he saw at the table for the now-suspended Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society — an organization with a history of clashing with the university — showing the discrepancy between Tampa’s Black population and Black student enrollment. The organization has had a history of clashing with the university.

He joined and began attending protests. What he initially thought of as something to do outside of classes took hold. He changed his major to sociology — a subject the state removed from general education courses.

“I realized that it’s a real issue that students can’t have their voices heard on campus, whether it be about diversity, whether it be about the subjects they want to study,” he said. “I also wanted to learn more about how society worked at large, and what problems there are in society and how people could demand their rights and whatnot.”

Last April, Charry was involved in organizing campus protests in support of Gaza, calling on the university to divest funds from companies that support Israel and erecting tents on university property — which crosses the university’s code of conduct policy.

Charry — who faced no legal charges — said the university tried to place blame with conduct charges on him and their student group with escalating violence on the second day of protests that led to law enforcement’s use of tear gas. But he maintains that the only violence came from police after some protesters chose not to leave after being asked to.

University spokesperson Althea Johnson had said USF could not provide additional information about Charry’s case due to student privacy laws, but noted “there are consequences for violating the law or university policies. USF has been clear that violence, threats, harassment and disruptions will not be tolerated.”

Last June, Charry learned he would be suspended from the university for a year. He appealed the conduct case, but was denied.

In September, he received an email from university officials telling him that because he was no longer enrolled in classes, he no longer maintained his student status needed to keep his F-1 visa. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security would be informed that he was living as an unauthorized individual, he said, and he would need to leave by October and show proof with his plane tickets that he had left.

Charry returned to Colombia, where his family worried, encouraging him to take a step back from being vocal about his beliefs.

Charry said since he had been suspended, he was mulling transferring to Hillsborough Community College. Being forced to leave made it a race against time.

He secured a loan, admission and his I-20, a certificate that proves full-time student status needed for an F-1 visa, after visiting the U.S. embassy in Colombia just weeks before the spring semester was to begin.

Since returning, Charry said, he’s felt nervous and uncertain about what could happen to his visa as protesters at other universities have been detained.

Still, he said, it hasn’t shaken his desire to speak out. He’s been involved in local protests since.

“All people have a right to due process,” he said. “All people have a right to hold certain political views. It doesn’t matter what they are, but they have the right to hold those views.

Ahmad Yakzan, a Temple Terrace immigration lawyer, said as a former international student, his advice has changed during the second administration of President Donald Trump. His office has seen students whose visa status has changed after minor encounters with law enforcement. Some had not been charged with crimes.

Yakzan advised international students to keep immigration lawyers’ numbers saved. He said though Constitutional rights exist, they may not guarantee safety if the administration ignores court orders.

“In this political climate, my best advice for them is for them to just stay quiet,” he said. “It’s sad, it’s really unfair to them, but that’s a political reality that we’re sitting in.”

In an email, Johnson said if USF learns that a student’s visa status has changed, “the university works to gather as much information we can about each individual situation and we make the student aware of resources that may be available.”

USF has also provided international students with monthly newsletters and resources to ensure their visa status is up to date. They also offer a website of immigration attorneys.

Still, Charry believes that speaking out is the best way to bring change.

“I know that for a lot of people, they do think that by stepping back, they’re going to be safer,“ he said. ”But I think it’s actually quite the opposite if they stay silent about all these issues.”