After two semesters at Trinity, Pablo Aguilera Del Castillo, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, is leaving the university in May.

Despite eventual exemption from the Sept. 19, 2025 White House executive order, which introduced $100,000 H-1B application fees, the international faculty member resigned his position on March 16, citing concerns about institutional support and the administration’s communication to and about international faculty, staff and students.

After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, the environmental anthropologist and Mexican national began his role at Trinity on a one-year Optional Practical Training (OPT) work permit, a temporary extension of his F-1 student visa. He planned to transition from an OPT to an H-1B visa during his first year on the tenure track, but said that plan was disrupted when the order introduced new uncertainty around visa sponsorship and costs.

Aguilera Del Castillo’s employment contract with Trinity states that the university is required to sponsor his visa and cover associated fees. In an email to administrators, Aguilera Del Castillo asked whether the university would uphold their contractual obligation if the new $100,000 fee applied to him, writing that without this action, he would be unable to remain at Trinity.

“As a faculty member at Trinity, I should not be afraid to walk around San Antonio, knowing that I might get kidnapped by ICE, and the university is not going to do anything about it,” Aguilera Del Castillo said.

Aguilera Del Castillo’s communications largely took place with Nels Christiansen, dean of the School of Social Science and Civic Engagement and associate professor of economics. In an Oct. 3 email obtained by the Trinitonian, Christiansen told Aguilera Del Castillo that while the university wanted to support him, they could not guarantee fulfillment of this increased fee.

“We can’t make any promises until we understand whether we will need to pay these fees or how many of them there are,” Christiansen wrote in an Oct. 3 email.

Aguilera Del Castillo said he was shocked by this response, as he claimed they have a legal obligation to pay the fee. “It’s not a matter of wanting or not wanting to,” he said.

In the email chain obtained by the Trinitonian, several faculty members expressed concern and support in internal emails.

Others suggested that he may be exempt from the fee. Multiple faculty members wrote that they were working with Trinity’s International Student and Scholar Services to find out whether Aguilera Del Castillo would be exempt from paying the increased fee, the emails show.

By mid-October, Aguilera Del Castillo said, Provost Megan Mustain told first-year faculty that they would likely be exempt from the policy, but questions remained about the university’s financial resources.

At the end of the fall semester, the White House clarified that the fee would only apply to people coming to the U.S. for the first time. Given Aguilera Del Castillo’s time at UPenn, this fee did not apply to him.

However, he said that he never received a direct response from the administrators about his questions. He said he had lost hope in being supported in the H-1B process.

“By the time I realized that I would be exempt from this policy, I also didn’t think I would have any of the necessary institutional support to apply for a work visa through the university,” Aguilera Del Castillo wrote in a follow-up email. “But once again, being exempt from the White House’s executive order sadly didn’t mean that I would be exempt from the incompetence of the administration when dealing with international students and faculty.”

Aguilera Del Castillo said he found that Trinity struggles with systemic racism, and the administration’s behavior displayed that to him. Their communication regarding ICE and immigration concerned him, he said.

“I think the way that the administration has been making decisions this year shows very clearly their inability to think about non-white, non-American people,” Aguilera Del Castillo said.

Amy Stone, department chair and professor of anthropology and sociology, provided a comment to the Trinitonian via email regarding Aguilera Del Castillo’s departure.

“Dr. Aguilera Del Castillo is a brilliant scholar and professor who really could have made a home here at Trinity,” Stone wrote. “It’s discouraging that the H-1B crisis is interfering with the ability of schools like Trinity to recruit and retain the best professors.”

Though administration did not provide comment on the reason for his departure, Mustain told the Trinitonian that administrators immensely respected Aguilera Del Castillo and will greatly miss him in a written statement.

“We respect and sympathize with his decision and will support him and wish him all the best in his next chapter,” Mustain wrote.

*Editor-in-Chief Samara Gerstle was a contributing reporter on this article.