By Annie ma
Washington (AP) – Country colleges report that some of their visas for their international students are unexpectedly revoked, expressing the alarm of what seems to be a new level of government control.
Visas can be canceled for a certain number of reasons, but college leaders say that the government has discreetly put an end to the status of legal residence of students with little notice to students or schools. This marks a passage from past practice and makes students vulnerable to detention and expulsion.
The list of colleges that discovered that students have ended their legal status include Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Ucla and Ohio State University.
The Trump administration has targeted students who had been involved in activism or pro-Palestinian speech, with some highly publicized students, including Mahmoud Khalil, a holder of green cards who was a leader in demonstrations at Columbia University.
But no more schools see stripped visas of students with no known link with the demonstrations. In some cases, previous offenses such as traffic offenses have been cited. Some colleges say that the reasons are not clear for them – and they are looking for answers.
“What you see occurring with international students is really a much more important control element than the Trump administration brings to immigrants from all categories,” said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of public affairs at the Policy Institute migration.
Many college officials and students only discovered changes when they checked a federal database and given changes in an individual’s immigration status.
How do student visas work?
Students from other countries must meet a series of requirements to obtain a student visa, usually an F-1. After being admitted to a school in the United States, students go through a process of demand and interview in an Embassy in the United States or a consulate abroad.
Students on an F-1 visa must show that they have enough financial support for their study program in the United States, they must remain in order with their academic program and are generally limited in their ability to work outside their university program.
Entrance visas are managed by the State Department. Once in the United States, the legal status of international students is supervised by the student and exchange program for visitors to the Ministry of Internal Security.
The leaders of many colleges learned that the legal status of some of their international students had been dismissed when they checked a database managed by Homeland Security. In the past, college officials say, visas have generally been dismissed after schools updated the government when the students fell out of their status.
After losing the legal residence, students are invited to leave the country
Historically, students who have revoked their visas were authorized to maintain their status of legal residence and to complete their studies.
The absence of a valid visa limited only their ability to leave the United States and to return, something for which they could reapply with the State Department. But if a student has lost the status of residence, he must leave immediately or risk detention by the immigration authorities.
Higher education leaders are concerned about arrests and revocations may have a frightening effect on international education in the United States.
The lack of clarity of what leads to revocations can create a feeling of fear among students, said Sarah Spreitzer, vice-president of government relations at the American council on education.
“The very public actions that are taken by ice and the Ministry of Internal Security around some of these students, where they remove these students from their home or streets, which is generally not done unless there is a security problem when a student visa is revoked,” she said. “The threat of this very fast withdrawal is something new.”
Colleges try to reassure students
In the messages on their campuses, the colleges said they were asking for answers to the federal government on what led to layoffs. Others have underlined travel precautions to students, recommending that they take their passport and other immigration documents with them.
College chiefs have spoken of an increasing feeling of uncertainty and anxiety.
“These are unprecedented times, and our normal guiding principles to live in a democratic society are challenged,” wrote in an email from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. “With the rate and depth of the changes that occur, we must be reflected in the way we prepare, protect and answer at best.”
Suárez-Ozozco said that the status of legal residence had been canceled for two students and “five other members of our university community, including recent graduates participating in training programs”.
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Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
