Hundreds of international students have received an email from the United States Department of State ordering them to “self-deport” for their alleged participation in “campus activism”, The Times of India reported on Saturday.

They were ordered to leave the country not just for allegedly participating in protests on American university campuses, but also for allegedly sharing or liking related social media posts, the newspaper reported.

Indian students may also be among those who received the email, The Times of India reported, adding that immigration attorneys had confirmed the development.

The state department has not commented on the matter so far.

The action was taken based on a review of social media being carried out by the state department, including officials at US diplomatic missions, according to the newspaper. Even new student visa applications will be covered under this review, with applicants being denied a permit to study in the US based on the scrutiny.

The US state department’s email cited by The Times of India did not provide details about why the action was taken.

The emails told students that “additional information became available after your visa was issued” and therefore, the study permit was being revoked.

The visas were reportedly revoked amid increased scrutiny of foreign students by the Donald Trump administration following pro-Palestine protests on college campuses in the US. Protest encampments against Israel’s war on Gaza have been erected in several other universities in the US since late 2023.

The email received by the international students was quoted as saying that the Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Office had alerted the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which carries out deportation processes.

“Remaining in the United States without a lawful immigration status can result in fines, detention, and/or deportation,” The Times of India quoted the email as saying. “It may also make you ineligible for a future US visa.”

Persons whose visa was revoked “may wish to demonstrate their intent to depart” the US using the CBP Home App, or the Customs and Border Protection Home mobile application.

The app allows undocumented immigrants or persons whose visa has expired or has been revoked to notify the US government of their intent to leave the country, “offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences”.

The email instructed the students that after they leave the US, they must present their passports at US diplomatic missions where their visa was issued so that the permit can be cancelled, according to The Times of India.

The newspaper quoted immigration attorneys as saying that visas were revoked based on the “Catch and Revoke” review programme launched by Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month.

The programme is aimed at cancelling visas of international students who had allegedly supported Palestinian militant group Hamas or other designated terror groups, Axios had reported on March 6.

The programme reportedly involves an artificial intelligence-assisted review of social media accounts of thousands of student visa holders and new applicants.

On Thursday, Rubio said that the state department may have revoked more than 300 permits, which were a combination of student visas and visitor visas.

Earlier cases related to Indians

Visas of at least two Indian scholars were revoked this month for allegedly supporting Hamas.

One of them, Indian academic Badar Khan Suri, was also arrested by the US immigration authorities on March 17 for allegedly “spreading propaganda” of Hamas.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation in the US. The department did not provide details of the activities Suri was allegedly involved in.

On March 20, a US judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting Suri “unless and until the court issues a contrary order”.

Suri’s arrest came three days after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian doctoral student at Columbia University, was forced to “self-deport”.

Srinivasan was “involved in activities supporting Hamas”, the homeland security department alleged on March 14. But it did not provide details of the activities the doctoral student was allegedly involved in.

Srinivasan said that they were not an activist or part of groups that organised protests at Columbia University. Srinivasan told The New York Times that they were “surprised” at being a “person of interest” for the Trump administration.

Commenting on these two cases, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on March 21 that Indian citizens living abroad are expected to comply with local laws.