They call it the Elephant Walk – the last time students in the Class of 2025 at Lydia Patterson Institute crossed the Stanton Street International Bridge from Ciudad Juárez into El Paso and trekked about a mile to their school in Segundo Barrio.
That was May 23, when they donned their maroon graduation gowns and waved at passersby honking and giving them thumbs up. Student mariachis greeted them at the entrance of “La Lydia,” as the school is affectionately known.
“Entrenle a La Lydia, esta padre,” one student is heard saying in a video of the walk posted on Facebook. “Come to La Lydia, it’s cool.”
It may not be that easy for students in the coming school year. Just weeks after celebrating graduation, leaders at the private, nonprofit faith-based school said they worry that a State Department pause on student visa appointments will leave a majority of their students without the educational opportunities the school has offered for more than 110 years.
Charged with consular services that issue passports and visas, the department has paused scheduling interview appointments for those needing an array of student visas as it works to implement social media screening requirements, Politico reported, citing a cable by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the matter. The pause follows the Trump administration’s efforts to block foreign students from entering the United States, targeting Harvard and other schools deemed liberal.
The State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment. The agency has not released an official announcement on its website.
While the vetting policy and subsequent interview pause are aimed at colleges and universities, its ripple effects will impact institutions like Lydia Patterson, school leaders said. They said they’ve had several students report that they weren’t able to schedule interviews for their student visas while the vetting process is implemented.
The Methodist school enrolls about 150 to 175 students in seventh to 12th grades, about 99% of whom cross the U.S.-Mexico border daily to attend the school at 517 S. Florence St. About 40% of students require student visas, while the rest are U.S. citizens who live in Juárez.
Students from Juárez attend on F-1 visas issued to foreign nationals to attend educational institutions in the United States.
“This unexpected visa appointment pause is already disrupting enrollment and most importantly, the lives of our students – many of whom have worked hard and simply dream of the chance to pursue an education rooted in faith, hope, and opportunity,” Lydia Patterson Institute Principal Carla Cardoza said in an emailed statement to El Paso Matters.
Cardoza was at the 2025 Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last week when she received word of the State Department’s pause. She tearfully shared the news with others at the conference as she gave a speech, leading the delegation in attendance to pause and pray with her for the school, its students and families.
“Some schools have storm days, we have border delays – and still, our students show up with faith and fire,” Cardoza said at the conference.
Other schools could face similar issues, but it’s unclear to what extent.
A spokeswoman for Loretto Academy, a Catholic pre-kindergarten to 12th grade school in Central El Paso, said the school has not heard of any students being impacted by the pause – yet.
Loretto is one of 12 schools run by the El Paso Catholic Diocese, including the all-boy Cathedral High School. Leaders at Cathedral High School were out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment. The Diocese didn’t return calls for comment.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said vetting students’ social media is another step by the Trump administration toward authoritarianism – allowing in only those who agree with the president.
She said taking away foreign students’ ability to study in the United States hurts more than the students themselves.
“None of this makes us safer. None of this makes America great,” she said. “In fact, all of this makes us far more diminished as a country. … Our universities, our schools, our communities have benefitted from these international students and have enriched the education of those around them.”
Domingo Betancourt, Lydia Patterson’s director of development and communications, said the school hasn’t received any formal communication from the State Department or other federal agencies. That has left the school with even a greater sense of uncertainty, he said.
“We don’t know how long this pause will last,” Betancourt said. “We think it’s very unjust and unnecessary and harmful to our students.”
He said the school is preparing online courses to ensure students can continue learning if they’re unable to obtain or renew their visas, and are asking for donations from alumni and the community to help with the necessary technology and tools. The school is still issuing Form I-20, the certificate of eligibility document needed to apply for the F-1 student visa. Classes for the next school year begin Aug. 11.
Mostly, he said, the school is asking that the community advocate for students.
Betancourt said students at La Lydia are among the most dedicated, citing that 100% of its graduates this year were accepted to colleges and universities across the United States and received about $1.8 million in scholarships.
“They wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to get ready, catch a bus, or a rutera, and get to the bridge,” he said. “Some are lucky to be dropped off at the bridge. But once there, they all have to wait in lines of up to 90 minutes to be processed by customs. Then they walk about a mile to the school. And they do this every day.”
The post Lydia Patterson Institute fears visa pause could disrupt student enrollment appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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