by Jonah Valdez, theintercept.com
The Trump administration is expanding its campaign against international students to target not just those active in pro-Palestine advocacy, but also students entirely uninvolved in protests and campus activism.
With little or no justification, the Trump administration is revoking the visas and immigration statuses of hundreds of international students under the Student Exchange and Visitor Program, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation, according to attorneys representing international scholars who have filed new lawsuits against the Trump administration.
In some cases, the government has gone after students with minor infractions or misdemeanors on their record, or, for others, no criminal history at all.
Several immigration attorneys have also told The Intercept that the bulk of their clients are from Muslim-majority countries or other countries in Asia and Africa. And new lawsuits filed in California also allege the government’s deportation attempts appear to be targeting students who are “African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Asian.
It will take days for immigration attorneys to sift through the waves of new cases. In late March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed media reports that at least 300 visas had been revoked in its “Catch and Revoke” program, and said that number would rise daily. Immigration attorneys who spoke with The Intercept on Monday estimate the number of student visa revocations may have risen into the thousands in recent days.
While the Trump administration’s most-publicized attacks on students have revolved around free speech rights with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of students for protesting or writing opinion journalism, the recent rush of revocations aligns with Trump’s wider, xenophobic campaign against immigrants and immigration.
“It’s a concerted effort to go after people who are from countries and religions that the Trump administration wants to get out of the country,” said Johnny Sinodis, a San Francisco-based immigration attorney who filed a lawsuit on Monday in California against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of a targeted student.
This new string of attacks on international students began over the weekend, ensnaring students at a wide swath of colleges and universities — such as Colorado State University, St. Cloud State University, North Carolina State University, Kent State University, and throughout the University of California system in Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, and San Diego. Many of the ensnared students do not attend universities that have previously been targeted by the Trump administration over allegations of “antisemitism,” such as Columbia, Tufts, or Cornell.
In one such case, Xiaotian Liu, a doctoral candidate studying computer science at Dartmouth College and a Chinese citizen, received an email from school administrators on Friday that the Department of Homeland Security had terminated his student status, according to a new complaint filed Monday in a federal district court in New Hampshire against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Director Todd Lyons.
To remain within the U.S. to study, international students in the program must maintain their student status through an online database run by DHS called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Administrators told Liu that the government had terminated his SEVIS account, but the government offered little explanation why. Instead, the government SEVIS database vaguely stated that Liu had been “identified in a criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked.”
Both explanations were a shock to Liu since he had no criminal history and had been unaware of any change to his student visa, the complaint said. Liu, who has been living in New Hampshire since graduating from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also had not participated in any protests in the U.S. or elsewhere, the suit said. Without his SEVIS account, Liu can no longer receive his Ph.D. program stipend or work as a research assistant, hurting his ability to earn money. It’s still unclear whether Liu’s F-1 student visa, which allows him to enter the U.S. when traveling, has also been revoked.
In a declaration filed in court, Liu said he fears being arrested and imprisoned in far-off places throughout the country, mentioning Louisiana, where the government has been transferring many recent student detainees. Attorneys in other cases have stated that such hasty transfers, which occur without notice to counsel, are meant to isolate students from their legal representation and seek favorable rulings from more conservative districts.
“It’s an unconscionable position for him to be in,” said Gilles Bissonnette, legal director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, which is presenting Liu in his case. “All he wants to do is complete his studies in peace — and now he has to live under the fear of being detained by immigration enforcers in the United States.”
Bissonnette said Liu’s case represents “significant escalation” in the Trump administration’s tactics of cracking down on immigrants. The lawsuit called the termination of Liu’s SEVIS account “unlawful” and argued that the government violated his due process rights in revoking Liu’s student status without notice or a proper hearing, which is required by DHS policy. The revocation of an F-1 visa is not grounds to revoke a student’s SEVIS status, the complaint said. The suit asks the court to force the government to provide evidence for the revocation, reinstate his SEVIS account, and prevent the government from detaining Liu.
“He’s never committed a crime, never had an issue, and now to have to live under the fear of having all of that ripped away without reason is just deeply concerning and troubling,” Bissonnette said.
The DHS did not immediately respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment.
Go paid at the $5 a month level, and we will send you both the PDF and e-Pub versions of “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! and a coupon code for 10% off anything in the Government-Scam.com/Store.
Go paid at the $50 a year level, and we will send you a free paperback edition of Etienne’s book “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! OR a 64GB Liberator flash drive if you live in the US. If you are international, we will give you a $10 credit towards shipping if you agree to pay the remainder.
Support us at the $250 Founding Member Level and get a signed high-resolution hardcover of “Government” + Liberator flash drive + Larken Rose’s The Most Dangerous Superstition + Art of Liberty Foundation Stickers delivered anywhere in the world. Our only option for signed copies besides catching Etienne @ an event.
