More foreign students in Michigan targeted for deportation
More foreign students in Michigan are being forced to leave the country as part of a Trump administration crackdown on student visas.
At the University of Michigan, a total of 22 people have now been notified they must leave.
Michigan State University said the number of its students being targeted remained small and a precise figure was unavailable because notifications are sent directly to the students, spokeswoman Amber McCann said in an email.
Central Michigan University students also are being targeted.
"Our number is 7 students: 3 who are currently enrolled in classes and 4 who have graduated and are completing OPT (Optional Practical Training)," spokesman Aaron Mills told the Free Press in an email.
The Free Press reported this week that four U-M students were forced to leave with little notice and almost no chance to contest the decision.
More: Department of Homeland Security revokes 4 U-M student visas; at least 1 flees US
More: Deportation crackdown targets foreign college students in Michigan
Immigration lawyer Bradley Maze spoke to three students being targeted. He told the Free Press the government appears to be scanning law enforcement databases for the names of foreign students with even minor offenses, and then terminating their status and revoking their visas.
For privacy reasons, the schools don't release the names of the students. The Department of State, which issues visas and the Department of Homeland Security, which monitors the SEVIS system, don't either.
University of Michigan leaders notified students faculty and staff of the increased number in an email today.
"In all, 22 people affiliated with U-M have now received notice that they must leave the country, including 10 recent graduates," President Santa Ono wrote in the email, which he signed along with three other top school leaders. "The federal government has not shared details on the specific reasons for these visa revocations or SEVIS record terminations. Please know the university has not provided lists or other identifying information to federal immigration or law-enforcement authorities relating to these students and graduates."
Ono said that U-M has 7,704 enrolled international students and another 2,497 who stay after graduation for additional training.
A 2022 report by Global Detroit said that there were about 27,500 international students enrolled at Michigan colleges and universities in the 2020-21 school year, the ninth largest international student population in the country. They generate about $829 million in economic activity for Michigan, according to the report.
Ono said the university was not aware of any federal law enforcement activity on campus.
"We understand the anxiety and alarm these events have caused and we are working to better understand how these government actions might impact our community going forward," he wrote.
Many foreign students often come to Michigan universities to study sciences, said Tyler Theile, vice president and director of public policy at the Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing.
"If you look at the higher degree fields, Ph.D.s, those getting the highest level of degrees in STEM fields who are contributing to research and innovate innovation in Michigan and in other states as well, it includes a really important and significant portion of international students," she said.
She said international students are an economic plus for Michigan because they are highly skilled young people, a group of people the state is struggling to attract and retain.
"It would just be incredibly unfortunate to lose the kind we are retaining," she said.
Free Press staff writers Niraj Warikoo and Liam Rappleye contributed to this report.
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: More foreign students targeted for deportation
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