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Chicago Tribune
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
US government expands grounds for canceling international students' legal status
The federal government is expanding the reasons international students can be stripped of their legal status in the U.S., where thousands have come under scrutiny in a Trump administration crackdown that has left many afraid of being deported. Attorneys for international students say the new reasons allow for quicker deportations and serve to justify many of the actions the government took this spring to cancel foreign students' permission to study in the U.S. After abruptly losing their legal status in recent weeks with little explanation, students around the country filed challenges in federal courts. In many cases, judges made preliminary rulings that the government acted without due process. Then the government said it would issue new guidelines for canceling a student's legal status. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shared Monday in a court filing said valid reasons now include the revocation of the visas students used to enter the U.S. In the past, if a student's visa was revoked, they generally could stay in the U.S. to finish school. They simply would not be able to reenter if they left the country. 'This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students, even if they've done nothing wrong,' said Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student who lost his status in the crackdown. The student was once charged with a traffic offense, which appeared in a law enforcement database searched by immigration authorities. Banias said the new guidelines vastly expand the authority of ICE beyond its previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds to take away a student's permission to be in the country. Students learn their records were removed In the past month, foreign students around the U.S. have been rattled to learn their records were removed from a student database maintained by ICE. Some went into hiding for fear of deportation or abandoned their studies to return home. As the court challenges mounted, federal officials said Friday that the government would restore international students' legal status while it developed a framework to guide future action. The new policy emerged in court a few days later. The new guidance allows for revoking students' status if their names appear in a criminal or fingerprint database in a way that was not permitted in the past, said Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 133 people in the U.S. on student visas who lost their legal status. 'Basically, they're trying to cover what they already did bad by making the bad thing that they did now legal for them to do,' Kuck said. Many of the students who had visas revoked or lost their legal status said they had only minor infractions on their records, including traffic violations. Some did not know why they were targeted at all. Lawyers for the government provided some explanation at a hearing Tuesday in the case of Banias' client Akshar Patel, an international student studying information systems in Texas. Patel's status was revoked and then reinstated this month, and he asked the court to keep him from being deported. In court filings and at the hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run database that contains reams of information related to crimes. It includes the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been charged with a crime or had charges dropped. In total, about 6,400 students were identified in the database search, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said Tuesday at the hearing. One of the students was Patel, who was pulled over and charged with reckless driving in 2018. The charge was ultimately dropped — information that is also in the database. Patel appears in a spreadsheet with 734 students. That spreadsheet was forwarded to a Homeland Security official, who, within 24 hours of receiving it, replied: 'Please terminate all in SEVIS,' referring to a different database listing foreigners who have legal status as students in the U.S. Judge suggests government did not review individual records Reyes said the short time frame suggested no one had reviewed the records individually to find out why the students' names were in the database. 'All of this could have been avoided if someone had taken a beat,' said Reyes, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. She said the government had demonstrated 'an utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country.' While the Department of Homeland Security was revoking students' legal status, the State Department was canceling the visas some students used to enter the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he canceled some visas because of student involvement in pro-Palestinian protests, which he says hurt U.S. foreign policy interests. But he acknowledged in March that some of the cancellations were 'unrelated to any protests' and were 'just having to do with potential criminal activity.' 'My standard: If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in?' Rubio told reporters in March. 'If the answer is no, then we revoke the visa.' Even though students used to remain in the U.S. after their visas were revoked, Rubio espoused a different standard in March: 'Your visa is expired, your visa is revoked, you have to leave,' he said. 'There is no right to a student visa.' Crackdown sowed chaos and confusion on campus At the start of the crackdown, when colleges discovered the students no longer had legal status, it prompted chaos and confusion. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school. In some cases this spring, colleges told students to stop working or taking classes immediately and warned them they could be deported. Government attorneys said the change in the foreign students database did not mean the students actually lost legal status, even though some of the students were labeled 'failure to maintain status.' Instead, lawyers said, it was intended to be an 'investigative red flag.' Patel 'is lawfully present in the U.S.,' Andre Watson of the Department of Homeland Security said. 'He is not subject to immediate detention or removal.'
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump administration expands deportation powers over International students
The federal government in the United States has broadened the conditions under which international students can lose their legal status, triggering concern among students and educational institutions. Thousands of foreign students have come under scrutiny in recent weeks following a Trump-era immigration enforcement initiative, which now appears to be reinforced by expanded legal justifications for deportation. According to a report by Associated Press, the change permits the revocation of a visa- previously not the grounds for deportation, to serve as a valid reason to strip a student of legal residency in the US. Immigration attorneys argue that the revised policy effectively justifies past government actions that cancelled student permissions earlier this spring, often without explanation or due process. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack India's Rafale-M deal may turn up the heat on Pakistan China's support for Pakistan may be all talk, no action India brings grounded choppers back in action amid LoC tensions Policy change enables swift removals Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing one affected student, told the Associated Press, 'This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students, even if they've done nothing wrong.' Previously, international students with revoked visas were generally allowed to complete their studies in the US., although they could not re-enter the country once they left. The new guidelines eliminate that distinction, enabling immediate deportation after visa revocation. ICE database removals trigger panic In recent weeks, students discovered that their records had been deleted from the ICE-managed Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), prompting some to flee or hide. The Associated Press reported that in response to mounting legal pressure, the government announced it would temporarily restore students' legal status while formal rules were under development. The updated policy was later presented in a court filing. According to the statement by Charles Kuck to AP, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney representing 133 affected students, 'Basically, they're trying to cover what they already did badly by making the bad thing that they did now legal for them to do.' (Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) NCIC checks lead to mass status terminations Live Events You Might Also Like: International students across the US are seeing their visas revoked The Department of Homeland Security used the FBI's National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) database to screen student visa holders. The database includes records of arrests and even dropped charges. According to US District Judge Ana Reyes, around 6,400 students were flagged through this search. One student, Akshar Patel, studying in Texas, had his visa revoked due to a 2018 reckless driving charge that was later dismissed. Patel's name appeared on a list of 734 students forwarded to Homeland Security, where an official responded within 24 hours: 'Please terminate all in SEVIS,' the Associated Press reported. Judge Reyes criticized the lack of individual record review, saying, 'All of this could have been avoided if someone had taken a beat.' She further noted that the government had shown 'an utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country.' State Department's role and visa cancellations You Might Also Like: US: New ICE memo puts reinstated international students in danger zone again In parallel, the State Department cancelled visas for students. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited involvement in pro-Palestinian protests as one of the reasons, stating that such actions harmed US foreign policy interests. However, he also admitted that some cancellations were unrelated to protests, saying, 'just having to do with potential criminal activity.' Rubio added, 'If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in? If the answer is no, then we revoke the visa.' He emphasized, 'Your visa is expired, your visa is revoked, you have to leave. There is no right to a student visa.' Campus disruption and legal uncertainty The visa revocations created confusion across campuses. In some cases, students were told to immediately stop attending classes or working. Officials later clarified that being flagged in the database was meant to be an 'investigative red flag,' not an automatic termination of legal status. Judge Reyes declined to grant a preliminary injunction but urged both parties to reach a settlement that would allow Patel to continue staying in the US. The broader impact of the policy change remains uncertain, with further legal challenges likely in the weeks ahead.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
US government expands grounds for deporting international students: Thousands of visa holders under new scrutiny
Thousands of international students face deportation as US tightens visa revocation rules. (AP Photo) The US government has expanded the reasons under which international students can lose their legal status in the country, raising concerns about the potential for rapid deportations. The policy change, which has already affected thousands of students, follows a crackdown on foreign nationals under the Trump administration. Immigration experts and attorneys have raised alarms, arguing that the new guidelines could be used to justify actions taken earlier this spring, which led to abrupt visa revocations for numerous students. As reported by the Associated Press, this decision has left many international students anxious about their future, fearing they could be removed from the US without proper explanation. In particular, a recent federal court filing revealed that the grounds for canceling a student's legal status now include the revocation of visas used to enter the country, a move that expands the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) beyond its previous limits. New grounds for deportation The new policy allows for visa revocation to be treated as grounds for deportation. Previously, when a student's visa was revoked, they could stay in the US to finish their studies but would be unable to reenter the country if they left. Now, as quoted by the Associated Press, if the State Department revokes a student's visa, they can be deported, regardless of whether they have committed any wrongdoing. Immigration attorney Brad Banias, representing one affected student, noted that this expansion gives ICE a 'carte blanche' to deport students even in the absence of serious infractions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Farmer finds hundreds of mysterious eggs in his fields - but when they hatch, he can't hold back his tears! (1) Novelodge Undo The policy shift has also led to significant confusion among students and universities across the US. Recently, international students learned that their records were removed from an ICE database, which led to fear and uncertainty on campuses nationwide. Some students, including those with minor infractions such as traffic violations, were caught in the crossfire, as ICE had conducted a database search that flagged students for reasons unrelated to their academic performance or immigration status. Thousands of students affected In the wake of the changes, thousands of international students have been identified in a national database search conducted by ICE. The search, which involved cross-referencing student visa holders with criminal and fingerprint databases, flagged approximately 6,400 students. According to the Associated Press, many of these students had minor legal issues, such as traffic offenses, or were flagged in the system despite not being charged with any crimes. Among the affected individuals was Akshar Patel, a Texas-based international student who had his visa revoked after a reckless driving charge in 2018, which was later dropped. His case highlights the broad implications of the new policy, as his status was initially revoked based on the inclusion of his name in a law enforcement database, despite the charge being dismissed. The Associated Press reported that after Patel's legal team intervened, a federal court ruled to reinstate his status, but this has not alleviated the broader concern about the process's fairness. Controversy and legal challenges The policy changes have sparked a wave of legal challenges from students and advocacy groups. In one case, attorney Charles Kuck, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of 133 students whose legal status was revoked, argued that the new guidelines were designed to justify actions already taken by the government. As quoted by the Associated Press, Kuck referred to the changes as an attempt to "cover what they already did bad" by making previously questionable actions legally justifiable. Legal experts have also criticized the speed at which the database search and visa revocations occurred, with one judge noting that the rapid processing of student information suggested that individual records were not reviewed carefully. US District Judge Ana Reyes commented that the process showed "an utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country," as reported by the Associated Press. Impact on US higher education The new immigration policy has created a chaotic atmosphere on US college campuses, where officials scrambled to inform students that their legal status may be in jeopardy. In some cases, students were told to stop attending classes immediately. As quoted by the Associated Press, the government clarified that the change in the student database was an "investigative red flag" and did not automatically mean students had lost their legal status. However, the damage to students' sense of security was already done. The situation has raised serious concerns about the potential long-term effects on US higher education, which relies heavily on international students. As the policy continues to evolve, more legal challenges are expected, and students' futures remain uncertain. 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NDTV
01-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
What Is Trump Administration's New Policy To Target Foreign Students In US
Washington: Amid a wider crackdown on immigration, the Trump Administration in the United States is expanding the ways to strip international students, including Indians, of their legal status to stay in stay and study in the country. Attorneys for international students, who came under the government's radar, said the Trump administration's new policy allows for quicker deportations and serves to justify many of the actions the government took to cancel foreign students' permission to study in the US. Now, if a student's visa is cancelled for some reason, they will lose the right to continue their studies or job in the US, according to a report by Associated Press. Earlier, the rules said that if a student's visa was revoked, they would generally be allowed to stay in the US to finish school. They would simply not be able to reenter the US if they left the country. Court Filings Shed Light On Policies The new details emerged during the proceedings of lawsuits filed by some of the students who suddenly had their status cancelled in recent weeks with little explanation. In many cases, judges made preliminary rulings that the government acted without due process. Then the government told the court that it would issue new guidelines for cancelling a student's legal status. Following this, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shared on Monday in a court filing said valid reasons now include the revocation of the visas students used to enter the US. "This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students, even if they've done nothing wrong," said Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student who lost his status in the crackdown, told AP. Banias said the new guidelines vastly expand the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) beyond its previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds to take away a student's permission to be in the country. The new guidance also allows the Trump administration to revoke students' status if their names appear in a criminal or fingerprint database in a way that was not permitted in the past, said Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney. Thousands Of Students Targeted According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), ICE has terminated SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records of as many as 4,736 international students since January 20, 2025, the majority of whom are Indians. Chinese, Nepalese, South Korean, and Bangladeshi students have also been targeted by the administration. SEVIS is an online database used by schools to provide legally required information about international students to the government. If a student's SEVIS record is terminated, they lose the legal status to continue their study or work under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme in the US. A common thread for most of the students who were targeted by the Trump administration was that at some point, they had contact with law enforcement. In most cases, these students either have traffic tickets or have violated university regulations. For some, even the charges were dropped, and they had no legal record. How Trump Administration Labelled Students As Criminals In court filings and at the hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Centre, an FBI-run database that contains reams of information related to crimes. These records include the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been charged with a crime or had charges dropped. Government officials acknowledged in court that they did not follow the basic 'innocent until proven guilty' foundation of US law and launched the mass exercise without individual reviews. In total, about 6,400 students were identified in the database search, US District Judge Ana Reyes said Tuesday at the hearing.
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Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
US govt expands grounds for cancelling international students' legal status
The federal government is expanding the reasons international students can be stripped of their legal status in the US, where thousands have come under scrutiny in a Trump administration crackdown that has left many afraid of being deported. Attorneys for international students say the new reasons allow for quicker deportations and serve to justify many of the actions the government took this spring to cancel foreign students' permission to study in the US. After abruptly losing their legal status in recent weeks with little explanation, students around the country filed challenges in federal courts. In many cases, judges made preliminary rulings that the government acted without due process. Then the government said it would issue new guidelines for cancelling a student's legal status. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shared Monday in a court filing said valid reasons now include the revocation of the visas students used to enter the US. In the past, if a student's visa was revoked, they generally could stay in the US to finish school. They simply would not be able to reenter if they left the country. This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students, even if they've done nothing wrong, said Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student who lost his status in the crackdown. The student was once charged with a traffic offense, which appeared in a law enforcement database searched by immigration authorities. Banias said the new guidelines vastly expand the authority of ICE beyond its previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds to take away a student's permission to be in the country. In the past month, foreign students around the US have been rattled to learn their records were removed from a student database maintained by ICE. Some went into hiding for fear of deportation or abandoned their studies to return home. As the court challenges mounted, federal officials said Friday that the government would restore international students' legal status while it developed a framework to guide future action. The new policy emerged in court a few days later. The new guidance allows for revoking students' status if their names appear in a criminal or fingerprint database in a way that was not permitted in the past, said Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 133 people in the US on student visas who lost their legal status. Basically, they're trying to cover what they already did bad by making the bad thing that they did now legal for them to do, Kuck said. Many of the students who had visas revoked or lost their legal status said they had only minor infractions on their records, including traffic violations. Some did not know why they were targeted at all. Lawyers for the government provided some explanation at a hearing Tuesday in the case of Banias' client Akshar Patel, an international student studying information systems in Texas. Patel's status was revoked and then reinstated this month, and he asked the court to keep him from being deported. In court filings and at the hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Center, an FBI-run database that contains reams of information related to crimes. It includes the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been charged with a crime or had charges dropped. In total, about 6,400 students were identified in the database search, US District Judge Ana Reyes said Tuesday at the hearing. One of the students was Patel, who was pulled over and charged with reckless driving in 2018. The charge was ultimately dropped information that is also in the database. Patel appears in a spreadsheet with 734 students. That spreadsheet was forwarded to a Homeland Security official, who, within 24 hours of receiving it, replied: Please terminate all in SEVIS, referring to a different database listing foreigners who have legal status as students in the US Reyes said the short time frame suggested no one had reviewed the records individually to find out why the students' names were in the database. All of this could have been avoided if someone had taken a beat, said Reyes, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. She said the government had demonstrated an utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country. While the Department of Homeland Security was revoking students' legal status, the State Department was canceling the visas some students used to enter the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he cancelled some visas because of student involvement in pro-Palestinian protests, which he says hurt US foreign policy interests. But he acknowledged in March that some of the cancellations were unrelated to any protests" and were "just having to do with potential criminal activity. My standard: If we knew this information about them before we gave them a visa, would we have allowed them in? Rubio told reporters in March. If the answer is no, then we revoke the visa. Even though students used to remain in the US after their visas were revoked, Rubio espoused a different standard in March: Your visa is expired, your visa is revoked, you have to leave, he said. There is no right to a student visa. At the start of the crackdown, when colleges discovered the students no longer had legal status, it prompted chaos and confusion. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school. In some cases this spring, colleges told students to stop working or taking classes immediately and warned them they could be deported. Government attorneys said the change in the foreign students database did not mean the students actually lost legal status, even though some of the students were labeled failure to maintain status. Instead, lawyers said, it was intended to be an investigative red flag. Patel "is lawfully present in the US, Andre Watson of the Department of Homeland Security said. He is not subject to immediate detention or removal. Reyes declined to issue a preliminary injunction and urged lawyers from both sides to come to a settlement to ensure Patel could stay in the US.
