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Trump travel ban affects hundreds of students, faculty at Texas universities

The order has forced students to choose: Either stay put in the U.S. or risk being stuck abroad for the foreseeable future.

AUSTIN — Mahya was excited to study at Southern Methodist University. She had her student visa and her plane ticket. She was supposed to arrive in Texas on Wednesday.

But her plans came to an abrupt halt after President Donald Trump issued his executive order blocking immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, including her home of Iran. Instead, Mahya will stay in Paris, where she now studies, and forgo her dreams of coming to the United States to research how social media drives women's empowerment movements in her home country.

"I was angry, to be honest," said Mahya, 29, who asked The Dallas Morning News to use only her first name because of the politically sensitive nature of her research. "I didn't believe it. I was like, 'It's not possible' because I already have my visa and my ticket and everything."

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Mahya is one of the hundreds of students, staff and faculty in Texas affected by Trump's executive order. SMU has 49 students from the seven affected countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen. The order has forced them to choose: Either stay put in the U.S. or risk, like Mahya, being stuck abroad for the foreseeable future.

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The University of North Texas has 85 students from the seven countries affected by Trump's order; the Dallas County Community College District, 47; UT-Dallas, 127; Texas Tech University, 149; and the University of Houston, 280. Schools are advising the students to forgo all foreign travel for the time being.

Out of "an abundance of caution," UT-Austin is also warning its 110 students and staff from the seven affected countries to not travel and to avoid the Texas-Mexico border because there are checkpoints nearby, school spokesman J.B. Bird said.

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Trump signed his executive order just before close of business Friday. The travel ban halts entry to the U.S. for citizens from these seven countries for the next three months. Refugees from Syria are also barred entry indefinitely.

The order has led to widespread confusion and concern as hundreds of refugees, green-card holders and other immigrants were detained at airports across the country over the weekend. At U.S. colleges and universities, where foreign-born scholars and graduate students from across the world convene to exchange ideas and further their research, the response was the same: Our people are here legally and we'll defend their right to stay.

"Absent legal compulsion, we will not reveal the immigration status, citizenship or national origin of any student," Rice University President David Leebron said in a prepared statement. "These measures were implemented with a callous indifference to their immediate impact on individuals and their families."

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People from other countries can attend college in the U.S. on a student visa. Under the most common visa, students must attend school full-time and leave the U.S. within 60 days after finishing their academic program.

So far, only a handful of Texas students affected by the ban are abroad, including a Ph.D. chemistry student attending Houston and a visiting scholar from Iran who was supposed join Texas Tech in the next few weeks. They will suspend their trips because of the order.

Those left on campus but unable to travel overseas, as well as other international students from nations such as India and China, have questions about how the travel ban may affect them, said UT-Dallas Assistant Vice President for International Programs Cristen Casey.

"There's a lot of uncertainty right now," Casey said.

The school is offering both practical and emotional support to its student body, nearly a quarter of the which is international. At UT-Arlington, which says it's the fifth-most diverse campus in the U.S., President Vistasp Karbhari posted a letter online Monday to students and others saying the college remains committed to diversity.

"We treasure the ethnic and cultural richness that makes UTA unique," wrote Karbhari, who is an immigrant. On Monday evening, students there gathered to protest the travel ban and show solidarity with the majority-Muslim countries affected.

Late Monday, UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven, best known for overseeing the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said Trump's executive order needs to be, at best, clarified to avoid further confusion.

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"I would hope that my commitment to our nation's security cannot be questioned," McRaven said. "But, I also stand behind the core values we hold as a nation. We ask that our leaders in Washington, D.C., move quickly to clarify the intent of this order, bring reasonable and expeditious process to its implementation, and send the message to the rest of the world that the United States remains open and welcoming to those who want to come here to learn, work and to live the American experience."

Ulrike Schultze and Susanne Scholz, SMU professors who are immigrants, said the ban will hamper the U.S. and Texas' ability to convey that message.

As a scholar of the Bible focusing on the Old Testament, Scholz also said the idea is certifiably un-Christian.

"As a Christian theologian, I have to say I'm horrified by these kind of laws," Scholz told The News. "It goes against every Christian principle in the book. I want to say, 'Jesus was a refugee and an immigrant, as was Moses.' "

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Schultze, who expected to welcome Mahya and one other Iranian female scholar who also might be kept from attending SMU because of the ban, finds herself trying to pick up the pieces.

"Your heart breaks," she said. "How do I make this up, especially to the woman who is not allowed to travel?

"Right now, that is my lingering question. How do we make this up?"