University of Alaska says 4 international students have had visas revoked amid national immigration crackdown

At least four international students in Alaska have had their student visas revoked, as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown continues.

They are among hundreds across the country facing removal after losing their student visas.

One of them is recent University of Alaska Anchorage graduate Jean Kashikov.

Kashikov first visited Alaska in 2017 as a tourist from his home country of Kazakhstan.

“We took a cruise out of Whittier, and we did a bunch of regular tourist stuff,” he said in an interview Sunday. “And I felt like it’s a really nice place with really nice people.”

Kashikov decided to apply to UAA and began taking courses in 2019. He graduated last May with a bachelor’s degree in math, followed by an associate’s degree in aviation in December. Now 24 years old, he began working as a self-employed flight instructor in Wasilla in March.

“In the last four to five weeks that I’ve been doing this, I had a bunch of one-time customers where I gave them, you know, biennial flight reviews, which is something that every pilot needs every two years, no matter how small,” Kashikov said.

Kashikov is able to work in the U.S. under an optional practical training period. It allows international students to remain in the country for one year after graduating, so long as they’re working in the field they studied. The federal government tracks and documents the students’ activities with what’s called a Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, record.

Kashikov’s training period wasn’t set to end until January of 2026. But on April 10, as he was eating breakfast at the Denali Family Restaurant, he received an email from UAA that his SEVIS record had been terminated.

“That basically means that starting this day, you are unlawfully present in the country,” Kashikov said.

In a statement, University of Alaska officials say a total of four UAA students, including one currently enrolled, received a similar revocation, without any prior notice. They added that no students from the Fairbanks or Southeast campuses have been impacted, so far.

“Our international students and scholars are vital members of our community, and we remain fully committed to supporting their success,” UA President Pat Pitney said in the statement.

Kashikov said he believes the U.S. isn’t following its own procedures and laws. At least one experienced immigration lawyer agrees.

“This is, like, totally illegal,” said Margaret Stock, an Anchorage-based attorney and internationally recognized expert on immigration law. “Everybody, they know it’s illegal, but they’re figuring people aren’t gonna be able to fight it.”

Stock cited research from the National Association of International Educators, which found that more than 800 international students nationwide saw their visas revoked or their SEVIS records terminated in recent weeks.

“The president apparently set a goal internally at the White House of deporting 1 million people, and they haven’t been able to find enough people who are actually deportable in order to do that,” Stock said.

Instead, the administration is trying to get people to deport themselves by revoking their visas or telling them directly to leave the country, Stock said. There hasn’t been a consistent reason given to students for the termination of their visas, but officials have made vague references to criminal records checks, she said.

“So it sounds like they apparently went into some system and found the person had a ticket of some kind, or they got arrested for something, even if no charges were brought against them,” Stock said.

Kashikov admitted that he had been arrested before. It was three years ago, in Arizona, when he was arrested for blocking a public bus he says refused to pick him up, he said. He had no alcohol or drugs in his system, didn’t act violently, and the charges were dropped. He also has a pending speeding ticket in Georgia from August.

Neither incident is grounds to deport someone, but many people don’t have the resources to take on the federal government in court, Stock said

“Their strategy is to do things that are illegal,” she said, “because they think people are going to have to go into court, and they won’t be able to afford a lawyer, and they won’t be able to fight the government, because it costs a lot of money to sue people in federal court.”

Kashikov consulted with immigration attorneys who’ve basically given him three options, he said. One is to simply leave the country. Another is to try to get his SEVIS record reinstated, though Stock said the Trump administration is not approving reinstatements right now. A third option is to sue the federal government. Stock pointed to a ruling in Wisconsin from Monday, where a judge granted a temporary restraining order for a student, blocking the termination of their SEVIS record. The order allowed the student to stay in the country and continue to work as their federal lawsuit goes through the courts.

Kashikov said he’ll most likely just leave.

“They can technically come grab me at any time,” he said. “So I’m not willing to test them. I want to leave if I can’t find a better solution. And now there is no better solution on the horizon as of right now.”

Kashikov said he’s going to miss Alaska, and at least one of his flight instruction clients said they’re going to miss him, too.

Kenneth Groat lives in Palmer and said he looked for a flight instructor for more than a year to help him get his sport license, before he found Kashikov.

“He’s a good pilot to start out with, but a good instructor as well,” Groat said. “You know, he did maneuvers that I hadn’t done in a while, and it just worked out good having a good guy in the cockpit with me.”

Kashikov leaving throws a wrench in his plans, Groat said, but it also means the state will be losing a talented worker.

“It just seems like it’s hard to find young people to work these days,” Groat said. “And Jean just seemed, for his age, he seemed super motivated, you know, and headed in the right direction. I really wanted him to succeed.”

Though his future in Alaska seems to be coming to a close, Kashikov said he wanted others to learn from his experience.

“I want the voting public to know that, you know, six months later, or a year later, or whenever, when they come out on the news and say, ‘We deported, removed, etc, so many thousands of violent criminals and whatnot,’ they’re gonna claim that that’s what they’ve done,” Kashkov said. “And I just want people to know that that’s literally not what’s happening.”

Kashikov received an official notice from the State Department that his visa was revoked on Monday night. As of Tuesday afternoon, he remained in the country.

Officials with the State Department and the Kazakhstan embassy, which told Kashikov his visa was revoked, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.