On Wednesday evening, a UCF spokesperson confirmed to New Times that 15 students have had their F-1 visa statuses terminated since March 25, including one student whom ICE detained. The spokesperson did not release the student's name and said the university had no further details.
An ICE spokesperson didn't respond to New Times' request for comment.
The Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown recently extended to college campuses, affecting international students' ability to remain in the U.S. while completing their studies. International students at dozens of universities have had their F-1 visas, which permit them to live and study in the United States, revoked, or their F-1 student status terminated by the government, often without clear explanations.
To date, more than 1,700 students and recent graduates have had their legal status altered by the U.S. Department of State in some way, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The government has stripped at least 62 Florida college students or recent graduates of their visas, including individuals enrolled at Florida International University (FIU), the University of Florida (UF), and Stetson University.
As New Times has previously reported, UCF — Florida's largest public university with its main campus in Orlando and an enrollment that exceeds 70,000 — is among dozens of colleges nationwide that recently agreed to empower campus police to participate in immigration enforcement.
Not the First in Florida
The UCF student appears to be the second known college student in Florida to be detained by ICE.Last month, Gainesville police arrested UF junior Felipe Zapata Velásquez, a 27-year-old food and resource economics international student, for driving with an expired license and registration tag. On March 31, Alachua County Jail officials released Zapata Velásquez to ICE agents who transported him to the Krome Detention Center in Miami for further processing.
A week later, on April 6, ICE confirmed that Zapata Velásquez had voluntarily self-deported to Colombia.
According to an ICE spokesperson, Zapata Velásquez, who was in the United States under an F-1 visa, had his student status terminated from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) in October 2024 when he failed to enroll in the system. (Students must enroll in SEVIS at the start of each school year to maintain their F-1 status.)
To the contrary, a UF spokesperson told New Times Zapata Velásquez was currently enrolled at the university and was also enrolled last fall. (The spokesperson declined to comment on his visa status, citing student privacy laws.)
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
