International students in the U.S. are reeling amid revoked visas and terminated records

From ScienceMag:

For one engineer who recently graduated from a U.S. university, the termination of his record in a government database used to track international students has meant uncertainty about whether he will be able to stay in the United States—and continue to provide for his family back home in Nigeria.

For a biochemist working in health science after earning her doctoral degree in the United States, a similar termination came the week she was selected for a coveted H-1B visa, used by employers to hire skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations. “I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel,” she says, “then everything I worked hard to obtain was taken away all of the sudden.”

And for a postdoc in computer science, the termination has meant filing a lawsuit to prevent his deportation.

These are a handful of the thousands of international students and recent graduates who have had their ability to study and work in the U.S. called into question by President Donald Trump’s administration in recent weeks. Those affected include undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent degree recipients who have stayed in the country to work through a temporary employment program called Optional Practical Training (OPT). Some are fighting back with federal lawsuits, filed in courts around the country. Still, many are reeling, feeling panicked and overwhelmed. “It feels like we’re getting caught up in something that’s changing fast and doesn’t give us a chance to defend ourselves,” one undergraduate international student says. Many others hesitated to speak publicly out of fear of attracting the attention of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

According to numbers shared with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, since Trump took office ICE has terminated more than 4700 international student records in the government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an online system used by the Department of Homeland Security to track international students who come to the U.S. to attend school.

Over the past few weeks, more than 180 universities have notified their students of a SEVIS termination. By itself, a termination does not end a student’s status or require them to leave the U.S. right away, says immigration attorney Clay Greenberg. But in many recent cases, a SEVIS termination has been followed by an email from the government informing the student that their visa has been revoked, putting the student at risk of deportation proceedings.

Observers say some of the SEVIS terminations appear to be linked to a student’s involvement in a protest or public expressions of political views. Others appear to be based on a student’s run-in with the law—including violations as common as a speeding ticket or ones that occurred many years in the past. For some, a termination occurred even if the case had been dismissed or records expunged. The biochemist who had just been selected for the H-1B, for example, had a misdemeanor charge dismissed more than 10 years ago. “A mistake made in high school came haunting me all over again,” says the researcher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions

In other instances, terminated scholars are dumbfounded as to why the government has ended their SEVIS record. For example, the computer science postdoc, originally from India, says he has no criminal record or involvement in protests. As he waits for his lawsuit to move forward, “I’m afraid to even leave my apartment,” he says.

Federal judges have given relief to a student in a seemingly similar position. On 9 April, a federal court in New Hampshire temporarily restored the F-1 student status of a Chinese Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, also studying computer science, who had a SEVIS termination. The student had never committed a crime or traffic violation, or participated in a protest in the U.S, according to court records.

The Trump administration’s actions are “putting fear in the hearts of hundreds and hundreds of students who shouldn’t be having to deal with this at this time,” Greenberg says. Many are working in science and technology fields through the OPT program, he notes, “contributing to our employers, our economy, and the growth of knowledge in our country.” OPT permits typically last for 1 year, but workers in science, technology, engineering, or math fields can apply for a 2-year extension.

Universities are also worried about how the administration’s efforts to remove some international students will affect enrollments. Foreign students bring in millions of dollars in tuition revenue and help keep many graduate programs afloat, administrators note. At East Texas A&M University, for example, as many as two-thirds of the students in its physics graduate program come from abroad, says department head Kurtis Williams. Their contribution to research and teaching “allows our little program, which actually brings in a fair amount of external research funding, to continue to survive and thrive,” he says. When Williams found out last week that the government had revoked the visa of one of his recent graduates, “it really hit home.” He’s “gravely concerned” about what that will mean for the student’s future.

Noncitizen students are more than just economic assets, says Anastasia Lyulina, a biology Ph.D. student at Stanford University. “We are individuals with our own hopes, feelings, and aspirations.” And there’s only so much more they can take. “There’s a quiet strength among international students, but the constant uncertainty over losing our legal status at any moment—without notice, reason, or due process—weighs heavily on us,” Lyulina says.

Many are fighting to stay—but the struggle is leaving its mark. “I’m going to keep trying to maintain the life that I have here,” the engineer from Nigeria says. “But what life am I fighting for if people don’t want me here?”

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