University of Oregon administrators have uncovered more international students whose visas were abruptly revoked by federal authorities in recent weeks, with the total number of terminated student visas rising to four. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminated each student’s visa due to “unspecified criminal charges,” according to the university. The loss of the F-1 visa means each student must leave the country within 15 days. Staying longer risks arrest or deportation. “We are working closely with the students directly impacted to gather all relevant information, connect them with legal advice, provide academic and personal life advising, and otherwise help them navigate next steps,” university spokesperson Eric A. Howald said in a statement. Howald declined to identify the students, citing student privacy laws, but said each was in “good academic standing.” Administrators were not informed or involved in the visa revocation process, he said. National media reports have been replete with examples of similar visa revocations over the past few weeks, with estimates that at least 150 international students have lost permission to remain in the U.S. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said some of the students were pro-Palestinian activists, but said that others simply had criminal records. “We’ve also identified people that have criminal charges and even while in the country, and still have active visas,” he said, noting that he signs each revocation personally. “My standard: If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in? And if the answer is no, then we revoke the visa.” Immigration attorneys, however, have said the Trump administration’s crackdown on international students runs counter to decades of precedent and has swept up students with long-resolved charges as well as those arrested for pending driving offenses, like DUII. Student visas were sometimes revoked due to criminal charges in the past, but typically with warning and a chance to appeal, according to reports in Inside Higher Ed and The New York Times. At the University of Oregon, administrators only discovered the four revocations while checking the national student visa database, known as SEVIS. Howald said the university is not required to check the database regularly, but began doing so as a “matter of professional commitment” and in order to give international students advance warning. Howald said the school’s 800 international students are paying about $55 million in tuition this year, the same amount they would get from any out-of-state student paying full price. The UO students hail from roughly 90 countries, with the largest cohort of about 130 coming from east Asia. International enrollment peaked at the university with nearly 3,500 such students in 2015, but has declined over the past decade due to various travel bans and the pandemic, the spokesperson said. —Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane. Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.