WASHINGTON (AP) – The crackdown on foreign students says the Trump administration is using new tactics and vague justifications to drive some students out of the country.
University staff have a new approach from foreigners. I want to study In the US
Students who have been stripped of their enrollment visa have been ordered by the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately.
Some students are targeted Pro-Palestinian activism Or criminal violations – or even traffic violations. Others wonder how they violated the government.
At Minnesota State University in Mankato, President Edward Inch told campus Wednesday that visas had been revoked for five international students for unclear reasons.
He said school officials learned about the withdrawal when they performed status checks on the international student database. Turkish student detention at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The State Department said detention was linked to a conviction of drunk driving.
“These are troubling times, and this situation is different from what we’ve navigated before,” Inch wrote in a letter to campus.
President Donald Trump Federal agents started by detaining Colombian graduate students on a campaign promise to deport international students involved in Palestinian protests Mahmoud KhalilGreen Card and Palestinian activist who were well-known in protest in Colombia last year. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that students were targeted for involvement in the protest along with others related to “potential criminal activity.”
Over the past two weeks, the government apparently has expanded its crackdown. University officials across the country have found that international students have revoked their entry visas and discovered the status of legal residences that have been terminated by the authorities in many cases without notice.
Some of the students work to leave the country themselves, but University of Alabama He is being detained by immigration authorities – even in Tufts’ case, Before the university knows The legal status of students has changed.
The federal government bypasses universities and opposes students
In this new wave of enforcement, school officials say the federal government is quietly deleting foreign student records instead of passing through college, as has been done in the past.
Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidential Union on Higher Education and Immigration, says students are being ordered to leave the country with a sudden, sudden surprise that the university rarely sees.
In the past, when international students revoked their entry visas, they were generally permitted to maintain their legal residence status. They can also stay in the country to study, but if they leave the US and come back, they will need to renew their visa. Currently, an increasing number of students have ended their legal status and are at risk of being arrested.
“None of these are regular practices,” Feldbrum said.
At North Carolina State University, two Saudi students left the United States after studying legal status when the students were fired, the university said. NC state said it will work with students to complete the semester from abroad.
Philip Vast, who lived with one of the students, said his roommate was apolitical in graduate school for engineering management and did not attend protests against the war in Gaza. When the government told his roommate his student status was over, it gave no reason, Bust said.
Since returning to Saudi Arabia, Vasto said his former roommate’s biggest concern was entering another university.
“He made his peace with it,” he said. “He doesn’t want it to allow it to steal his peace any more.”
Database checks raise at-risk students
At the University of Texas at Austin, staff checking the federal database discovered that two student visas had permission to terminate in the United States, said someone familiar with the situation. The person refused to be identified for fear of retaliation.
One of the people from India ended their legal status on April 3rd. The federal system indicated that the person was identified in a criminal history check that “and/or visa has been revoked.” Others from Lebanon ended their legal status on March 28th due to a criminal history check, according to the federal database.
Both people were graduates remaining in the US on student visas and using the options allowed people to gain professional experience after completing coursework. Both were employed full-time and clearly did not violate the requirements for pursuing work experience, said someone familiar with the situation.
Some students have revoked their visas by the State Department under an obscure law that prohibits non-citizens who could have “severe adverse foreign policy implications.” Trump evoked the law with an order in January calling for action against campus anti-Semitism.
However, some students targeted in recent weeks have not had a clear link to political activity. Feldbram said some have been ordered to commit misdemeanors and traffic violations. In some cases, students were targeted for previously reported violations to the government.
Some of the alleged violations may have not been scrutinized in the past, and it is likely that the case will be the first test of students’ amendment rights as they work through courts, said Michel Mittelstadt, director of spokesmanship for the Institute for Immigration Policy.
“In a way, what the administration is doing is really retroactive,” she said. “Instead of saying, ‘This will be the standard we are applying to in the future,’ they are reviewing and reviewing students based on past expressions and past actions. ”
The Association of Public University has requested a meeting with the State Department on the issue. It is unclear whether more visas have been revoked more than usual, but officials fear a calm impact on international exchanges.
Many members of the association have recently seen at least one student revoke their visas, said Bernie Brola, the group’s vice president. With little information from the government, universities are interviewing students and searching social media for connections with political activities.
“It appears that the university cannot find anything that appears to be related to Gaza or social media posts and protests,” Brola said. “Some of these are students sponsored by foreign governments and are very hesitant to be involved in the protest.”
He said there is no clear thread indicating which students are being targeted, but some came from the Middle East and China.
American universities have long been considered the brightest mind top destination in the world. And they have brought important tuition income and research breakthroughs to American universities. But international students also have other options, says Fanta AW, CEO of NAFSA, the International Association of Educators.
“We shouldn’t take it for granted that it’s the way things are and always is,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski of St. Paul, Minnesota and Angelique Castanis of Los Angeles contributed to the report.
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