The lives of an estimated 1,500 international students have been thrown into turmoil after their F-1 or J-1 visas were revoked in recent weeks.
Students at more than 240 American universities have been impacted by a change to their resident legal status, which means they can no longer complete their studies in person and will have to return home, according to a tracker created by Inside Higher Ed.
Three universities told Middle East Eye that they received no prior notice, and the reasons for terminating students’ legal status were unknown.
Neither the universities nor the students were directly contacted about the change in status. Universities discovered changes to their students’ status by checking international student records in the federal government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
The University of Washington shared that 13 of their currently enrolled students and 10 recent graduates enrolled in post-graduate training had their visas cancelled.
The University of Connecticut shared with MEE that the visas of 12 students, six undergraduate students and six graduate students, as well as one alumnus in a postgraduate professional programme at the university, had been terminated.
Meanwhile, Rutgers University in New Jersey told MEE “about a dozen” students had been impacted.
But terminating a record in the SEVIS system doesn’t necessarily mean the individual’s immigrant status in the country has been terminated.
All of the revocations share a common thread—none of the students have been charged with a crime.
Instead, the government is using a rarely invoked immigration act that allows the Secretary of State to revoke immigration status if the Secretary deems their presence a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
At the end of March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would take away any visa that had previously been issued if students participated in social activism.
“We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campus. We’ve given you a visa and you decide to do that—we’re going to take it away,” he said during a press conference in Guyana.
He also announced at that point that he may have revoked more than 300 visas. “It might be more than 300 at this point,” he said.
We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.
At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.
‘Authoritarian government’
Michigan-based lawyer Amir Makled, who has represented pro-Palestinian protestors, said that Rubio is reframing dissent as a national security threat.
“What we’re seeing and what we’re witnessing is a coordinated effort to punish student protesting, especially when it comes to pro-Palestinian protests. This used to be very protected political dissent,” Makled told MEE.
Makled said that, even though protesting does not constitute criminal conduct in the country, students were being targeted for their speech.
Makled said he had noticed an uptick in people needing legal representation with pro-Palestine advocacy cases. He added that immigration lawyers were being targeted by the current administration for their work, as it challenges the current administration’s goals.
He believes he was targeted for his legal work after he was detained by federal immigration agents at Detroit Airport in April, while returning from a family vacation to the Dominican Republic, and was asked to hand over his cell phone.
I was detained at the border simply because I’m representing a student protester. It was raised in my interview, during my interrogation, that they knew that I was an attorney representing high-profile student protester cases. These are intimidation tactics, attempts by the government to try to dissuade advocates from taking on these roles.
Makled said the courts are the last line of defence against an “authoritarian government”.
Meanwhile, as reasons behind the cancellation of visas are not being provided to students, it is not clear whether there is anything they can do to challenge it. Some students are leaving the country to avoid being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, while others have started legal cases against the federal government.
The University of Washington said in a public statement that it did not have any indication that student visas were cancelled due to any activism. “We have no indication these actions are due to activism or other protected free speech”.
In order to obtain a U.S. visa, students must be accepted into a SEVIS- certified school. Students will then be sent an I-20 form, a certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status.
Students will need the I-20 form to apply for a student visa—normally an F-1 or J-1 visa.
A violation of a student’s immigration status will result in the termination of their SEVIS record. If that happens, a student will be out of legal status and would need to depart the country.
Typical immigration status violations include: unauthorized employment; an unauthorized withdrawal from classes; an unauthorized drop below full course of study; expulsion or suspension; failure to enroll in classes; enrollment in too many online classes; failure to report Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment and accrual of 90 days of unemployment while on OPT.