In a broad shift that has sparked confusion, fear, and constitutional action, over 1, 000 worldwide students have seen their legal status in the United States removed. Individuals at over 130 universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Maryland, have experienced abrupt detention of their visas since late March, frequently without any apparent justification.
Corporations are frantically trying to support the individuals who have been impacted by the cancellations as part of a wider immigration clampdown led by the Trump administration and get answers from federal government. In many cases, the pupils weren’t immediately notified. Universities were able to find the terminations by using the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System ( SEVIS ) database, which was maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.
Students suing the Department of Homeland Security claim that their visa were revoked fraudulently and without due process, and in reply, many lawsuits have been filed against the agency. A judge at Dartmouth College granted temporary shelter to a Taiwanese computer science student without warning in a prominent situation in New Hampshire. Similar legal difficulties have been brought in Georgia and California, with attorneys claiming that these actions could lead to confinement, imprisonment, and permanent disruption of intellectual work.
The lack of accountability surrounding the expulsions has only heightened the problem. According to institutions, the alterations haven’t been explained in detail. Middle Tennessee State University said in a statement that it had no knowledge why six of its foreign pupils had lost their visa. Four students at the University of Oregon were denied their visas because they had not been informed of any unknown legal fees.
While some cases may involve questions of national security, like the notoriously detained arrest of a Harvard graduate and activist in Palestine, some others appear to have been the result of small or unknown infractions. Legal professionals have criticized the action as a politically motivated attempt to stymie global cooperation.
Twelve individuals had negative experiences at the University of California, Los Angeles. Although no specifics were provided, Chancellor Julio Frenk claimed the choices were attributed to violations of card terms. Similar cases have been reported by corporations in 40 states, but few of them claim to have been informed in advance or given explanation.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the pattern suggests a more comprehensive strategy for carefully terminating student statuses. Students from India, China, Colombia, Mexico, and Japan are now represented in a lawsuit filed in Georgia. The legal processing asserts that SEVIS students were removed without proper assessment, and that the government is acting inadvertently.
