Crisis in U.S. Student Visa

By Alex P. Vidal 

“Studying abroad is about experiencing a foreign country — and the most beautiful, important part of a country’s culture is its people.”  — Alexander Kolker

ARE you a Filipino or a foreign student intending to study in the United States under the Trump administration and planning to apply for a student visa soon? Think it over!

Filipino or not, the issue is about the new administration’s immigration policy, which applies to students from all over the word with strong desires to study in the U.S.

As of this writing, the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to revoke hundreds of international student visas across the United States has set off a desperate scramble for them to leave the U.S. within days.

Already, some students were being forced to leave immediately, as reported by several universities in many cases after discovering their visas were canceled in the federal Student Exchange and Visitor Information System or via an unexpected text or email.

USA TODAY Network recently contacted multiple U.S. universities regarding the visa cancellations but declined to discuss specifics, citing student confidentiality.

The Network has reported that immigration experts have confirmed they’ve never seen the federal government make such sweeping changes to the ordinarily low-profile process of hosting international students.

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The National Immigration Project has reportedly challenged the visa cancellations, which have affected students in California, Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Florida, among others.

According to the Network, the cancellations reflect a small percentage of the estimated 1.5 million international students studying in the United States but have sent shockwaves through the collegiate community.

Some of the cancellations appear to be connected to things as minor as roommate disputes or as off-campus traffic tickets, university officials said, while others appear to be connected to pro-Palestinian protest participation, added the Network.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’ve never seen 300 students lose their visas,” said Len Saunders, a Washington state immigration attorney based near the Canadian border as quoted by the Network. “To hear that something like 300 visas were canceled out of the blue … it’s all political. To read that there’s hundreds of people having their visas canceled, you know exactly what it is.”

President Donald Trump won back the White House after campaigning on tough new immigration controls, and some conservatives have accused other countries, particularly China, of sending students to study in the United States to steal intellectual property.

International students are typically ineligible for financial aid and instead usually pay full tuition, subsidizing other students.

According to the federal government, California is home to the largest number of international students, and the most popular majors among international students are computer science, language, and business administration and management.

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People from India and China represent the largest proportion of international students, accounting for about half of the overall enrollment, according to federal officials.

There is no central accounting of how many students have had their visas revoked or where they came from.

Many of the foreign students involved in campus protests were from the Middle East.

Saunders said he’s seen a handful of students annually lose their visas over things like a drunken-driving arrest, but in many cases, students were allowed to finish out their studies.

This round of visa cancellations has prompted some students to leave immediately, including those who are close to graduating. At the University of Michigan, officials said they were trying to figure out how to help an international student finish his architectural master’s degree work despite fleeing home.

The visa cancellations appear to be different than the targeted detentions of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, largely because the students are not being detained but are instead being told to self-deport within seven days.

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The cancellations have reportedly sparked scattered protests, including at the University of Arizona.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that he has revoked at least 300 visas of students he described as “lunatics,” citing pro-Palestinian support or activism, activities that are normally considered protected First Amendment rights.

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a press conference.

Colorado State University officials said six students there lost their visas, and university officials escorted some of them to the airport to fly home.

It’s unclear whether the students have the right to appeal their visa revocations.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two leading newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)