by The U.S. government has commenced elucidating its enforcement actions against overseas students, detailing the methods employed to target thousands and stating the rationale for revoking their legal status.
Recent lawsuits brought by several students revealed additional information regarding the abrupt cancellation of their status, which occurred with minimal explanation.
In the previous month, international students around the U.S. were alarmed to discover that their records had been deleted from a student database overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some concealed themselves due to apprehension of deportation, or discontinued their studies to return to their homeland.
On Friday, following extensive legal challenges, federal officials announced the reinstatement of international students’ legal status while formulating a framework for future terminations.
In a court filing on Monday, it disclosed the new policy was disclosed a document released over the weekend outlining various grounds for the cancellation of students’ status, including the revocation of the visas utilized for entry into the U.S.
Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student whose status was revoked, stated that the new guidelines significantly broaden ICE’s authority beyond prior policy, which did not consider visa revocation as a basis for losing legal status.
Previously, students whose visas were revoked could stay in the U.S. to finish school, but they couldn’t return if they left.
“This effectively granted them unrestricted authority to have the State Department annul a visa and subsequently deport those students, regardless of their innocence,” Banias stated.
A significant number of students whose visas were revoked or who lost their legal status reported having only minor transgressions on their records, such as traffic violations. Some were unaware of the reasons for their targeting.
At a hearing on Tuesday, government lawyers offered clarification regarding the case of Akshar Patel, a client of Banias and an international student pursuing information systems in Texas. Patel’s status was revoked and subsequently renewed this month, and he is pursuing a preliminary court order to prevent his deportation.
In court documents and at the hearing, authorities from the Department of Homeland Security stated that they processed the names of student visa holders through the National Crime Information Center, a database managed by the FBI that encompasses extensive information about criminal activities. The database includes the identities of suspects, missing individuals, and apprehended individuals, irrespective of their charges or dismissals.
Approximately 6,400 pupils were detected in the database search, stated U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes at the hearing on Tuesday. Among the pupils was Patel, who was apprehended and charged with reckless driving in 2018. The charge was subsequently dismissed—a fact likewise recorded in NCIC.
A database contains Patel’s information, along with the identities of 734 pupils identified by NCIC. The spreadsheet was sent to a Homeland Security official, who responded within 24 hours: “Please terminate all in SEVIS.” This is an alternative database cataloging foreigners with lawful student status in the U.S.
Reyes indicated that the brief duration implied that no one had examined the records individually to ascertain the reason for the pupils’ names being in NCIC.
“All of this could have been averted if someone had paused,” stated Reyes, nominated by President Joe Biden. She stated that the administration has exhibited “a complete disregard for individuals who have entered this country.”
The revelation of students’ loss of legal status incited panic and bewilderment within universities. College authorities historically assert that they generally revised legal statuses following the notification to the government regarding students’ cessation of studies at the institution.
This spring, many colleges instructed students to cease employment or coursework immediately, cautioning them of potential deportation.
Nonetheless, government attorneys asserted that the alteration in the database did not imply that the students had genuinely lost their legal status, despite some being categorized as “failure to maintain status.” Lawyers asserted that it was meant to serve as an “investigative red flag.”
“Mr. Patel is legally present in the United States,” stated Andre Watson of the Department of Homeland Security. “He is not liable to prompt detention or expulsion.”
Reyes refused to grant a preliminary injunction and encouraged attorneys from both parties to reach a compromise to facilitate Patel’s continued residence in the U.S.
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