DASG disqualifications PAGE 3
Auto Tech photo essay PAGE 4
Club Day PAGE 5
Swimmers take gold PAGE 7
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The voice of De Anza since 1967 Volume 62, Issue 1
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
U.S. reverses 6 De Anza visa record terminations
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De Anza Student Government Elections vote share between disqualified Elevate candidates and runner-up candidates
PHOTO BY MITCHELL PARK
Gary Chen, 22, computer engineering major, reads a magazine in the International Student Programs office on May 1. The ISP office is a recource center for F-1 visa De Anza students.
Faculty union petitions for international student protections By Ingrid Lu and Mitchell Park LA VOZ STAFF
Legal status has been restored for six De Anza College and three Foothill College international students during a sweeping reinstatement effort by the Trump administration. Foothill-De Anza Community College District Chancellor Lee Lambert confirmed that “all prior terminations of F-1 visa records” were reversed in an email sent to district employees on Monday, April 28. De Anza President Omar Torres said that three De Anza students returned to their home countries after their legal status was initially deactivated, though none were formally deported. The thousands of reversals to visa records are subject to change. According to a New York Times article published April 25, a Department of Homeland Security official said, “the students whose legal status was restored on Friday could still very well have it terminated in the future, along
with their visas.” These terminations were discovered by International Student Programs, through routine checks to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System — the database that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS uses to monitor international visas — from April 4 to April 10. Four students’ records were restored by April 25, and the remaining five by April 28. Foothill-De Anza was among 86 institutions that signed an amicus brief filed in April through the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, supporting legal action to challenge visa revocations and detentions. In April, the Board of Trustees designated FHDA a “sanctuary district,” a symbolic title signaling solidarity with undocumented, international and other at-risk students. Although no official connection has been made between FHDA’s sanctuary status and visa revocations within the district, the Trump administration
PHOTO BY MITCHELL PARK
International Student Programs remains in communication with students affected by SEVIS record terminations.
signed an executive order on Monday to bolster federal action against sanctuary districts. The district has not shared specific reasons for the initial record terminations, but Torres said in an email after the terminations that the federal government’s explanations were “vague.” “Ninety-nine percent of my international friends, they just come here to study,” said Austin Wong, 20, business major. “Go home, study, go home. De Anza. Home. De Anza. Home. Walmart.” Students across the U.S. have reported having their visas revoked after a history of pro-Palestinian activism or offenses, such as DUIs and prior arrests, according to NBC. “We don’t know where the boundary is. Like if I’m jaywalking, am I going to get my visa revoked, or am I going to get deported?” Wong said. Faculty Association President and English instructor Tim Shively said he is coordinating a petition in support of international students with San Mateo Federation of Teachers AFT 1493, the faculty union that serves the San Mateo County Community College District’s three schools. City College of San Francisco Faculty Union AFT 2121 later joined the petition. The petition makes six demands of California community college administrators, including to seek legal action and ensure that compromised students remain enrolled in their classes. “We want to make sure that students are protected and taken care of to the extent that we can take care of them,” Shively said. “There is a correlative movement of districts in the community college system in California linking together.” As of May 1, the petition had over 300 signatures.
INFOGRAPHIC BY ASHLEY KANG
DASG upholds Elevate disqualifications Runner-ups certified, some senators call evidence “subjective” By Gavin Rust LA VOZ STAFF
After a five-hour meeting, the De Anza Student Government Senate failed to overturn their disqualifications of five candidates who received the most votes for executive officer positions in the Student Council Chambers on April 23. Senators voted 11-6 to overturn the blanket disqualification, expecting to reevaluate which of the five deserved to be disqualified. However, the motion failed to meet the required two-thirds majority by one
vote. The disqualification remained. The senate then certified the runner-ups except for the position of student trustee. Runner-up Alona Agmon, 18, business major, did not meet the required vote threshold, and the trustee position is said to be decided at the meeting on May 2 at 4 p.m., as of the printing of this article. This decision followed a previous Election Certification and Complaint meeting on April 16 in which the senate unanimously voted to disqualify the coalition on
See DASG on page 3.