Latest news with #ShaunaJohnson
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
9 WVU students see records restored after Trump Administration revokes visas
3 WVU students have visas restored by federal government MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — After three students at West Virginia University had their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) restored last week, WVU has now confirmed that others have as well. According to Shauna Johnson, WVU's Executive Director of Strategic Communications, West Virginia University has confirmed that SEVIS records have been restored for nine students and alumni in its system who had them terminated earlier this month by the Trump Administration on the basis that they appeared in a criminal database. DOGE cuts AmeriCorps programs across West Virginia All nine people also had their student visas revoked earlier this month, but some have since been restored. WVU was unable to verify if all nine had their visas restored as of Tuesday, but 12 News has reached out to the U.S. Department of State for clarification. This announcement comes nearly a week after the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) filed lawsuits against the Trump Administration on behalf of a WVU student and a Marshall University student who both claimed that their visas were wrongly revoked. Both students had their revocations reversed days later. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
3 WVU students have visas restored by federal government
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Three students at West Virginia University who had their student visas revoked by the Trump Administration earlier this month have now had them restored. According to Shauna Johnson, WVU's Executive Director of Strategic Communications, the university is aware of three students who have had their information restored into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) as of Friday afternoon. Johnson said all three attend the Morgantown campus. 12 News previously reported that a total of seven people—four students and three alumni—across the WVU system had their visas revoked. However, Johnson said that as of Friday, that number had climbed to nine total people, including three at WVU Institute of Technology in Beckley. On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) informed 12 News that it had filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on behalf of Sajawal Ali Sohail, a 25-year-old WVU student from Pakistan who had his visa revoked on claims that he had a criminal background. Gov. Morrisey signs Lauren's Law in Morgantown On Friday, ACLU-WV confirmed that Sohail was one of the three WVU students whose visa had been restored, as well as Marshall University student Shival Vyas, who was granted a temporary restraining order against the Trump Administration earlier this week. This is positive news not just for our two clients in West Virginia, but for international students across the country. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, particularly the announcement that ICE will be developing new policies for revoking legal statuses. We want to be clear that the administration is backing down not because it's the right thing to do, but because they have been dragged to court repeatedly and lost again and again. Statement from ACLU-WV On Friday, The Hill reported that 1,500 international students will have their visas restored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after numerous lawsuits. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said that student records in SEVIS will also be restored, The Hill reported. He added that ICE will create a new 'framework for SEVIS record terminations,' and that in the meantime, all student records that have been removed from SEVIS will be restored. This story has been updated to correct information provided by WVU officials. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WVU acknowledges revocation of student visas
Apr. 10—MORGANTOWN — WVU on Thursday said it is continuing to "work directly " with a number of students and graduates whose international visas have been revoked recently by the federal government—but would not discuss what such a process might entail. The university is keeping the identities of the involved students confidential. "At this point, we're not able to provide specifics beyond this, " spokeswoman Shauna Johnson said in an email confirming the revocations. To date, three students and three alumni on the downtown campus have been affected, Johnson said, along with three more students at the WVU Institute of Technology in Beckley. That includes the revocation of their student visas and termination of their records through the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS as the network is commonly known, Johnson said. Each person programmed into SEVIS came back with the same message, she said: "Name found in criminal records check." The action in Morgantown and Beckley is part of a national sweep across campuses nationwide that began with last month's arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate student who led protests at his school last spring. Then, the mission was to target students involved in pro-Palestinian activism or speech. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month, in fact, vowed the administration would continue to be relentless in targeting, in his words, "these lunatics, " so deemed by the White House as threatening U.S. foreign-policy interests through their protests. However, as colleges and universities are now telling the Associated Press, that national net has apparently taken a wider cast. More schools are seeing visas stripped from international students who have no known connections to such protests — but may have, say, a traffic violation on their record which then be cited to pull the academic credential. There's a difference between persecution and watching out for the best interests of the U.S., said Michelle Mittelstadt, director public affairs at the Migration Policy Institute. "What you're seeing happening with international students is really a piece of the much greater scrutiny that the Trump administration is bringing to bear on immigrants of all different categories, " she said.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
4 WVU students, 3 alumni have visas revoked by U.S. government
WVU student leader concerned after Trump threatens 'illegal' protests on college campuses MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Four students and three alumni in the West Virginia University system have had their student visas revoked, a WVU spokesperson confirmed Wednesday night. As of April 9, one student and three alumni at WVU's Morgantown campus, as well as three students at WVU Institute of Technology in Beckley, have been notified that their student visas have been revoked, according to WVU's Director of News Communications Shauna Johnson. Additionally, their records have been terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). PHOTOS: Protesters gather near Morgantown NIOSH after layoffs Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Johnson said that in every case, the government's justification was that the person's name was 'found in a criminal records check.' She added that the university is working directly with the students affected by these decisions. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
