The U.S. Department of Justice announced April 25 that the Trump administration would reinstate the status of international students who’ve recently had their visas terminated. As of last week, the visas of at least 1,800 international students at colleges and universities around the country had been revoked, according to Inside Higher Ed.
These abrupt terminations came as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and alleged antisemitism on college campuses. Some non-citizen students who protested the war in Gaza last year remain detained in the custody of immigration officials, and over 200 California students attending school on F-1 or J-1 student visas have lost their legal status.
Visa terminations have created anxiety on college campuses, including at USC, which has the most international students in California.
USC’s Office of International Services released a statement April 21 discussing the “increased scrutiny of social media by U.S. immigration authorities.” The statement noted that immigration enforcement agencies are now reviewing social media as part of their screening process, and encouraged international students to be mindful of what they post online.
California State University system officials said that a total of 70 students had been impacted by visa revocations as of April 16, as well as at least 19 UCLA students and recent alumni, according to the Daily Bruin.
Despite USC having the largest population of international students among California universities, it has not announced any student visa revocations, saying that they do not “disclose information about the status of individual student visas.”
Law professor Niels Frenzen, director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, explained the two different actions that can be taken against international students by the U.S. government.
The first is tied to student visas, which simply require that a student remain in good standing with their academic institution in order to have lawful status, regardless of whether their visa had previously expired. The second involves SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) – a government database that tracks students with visa status, and grants them legal authority to be in the U.S.
According to Frenzen, international students can have both their visas revoked and their SEVIS record terminated, leaving many confused and questioning the legality of their status in the U.S.
While an expired visa isn’t grounds for deportation, Frenzen says that the administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have taken conflicting positions about what a SEVIS record termination means, leaving many impacted international students in limbo.
“In some cases, ICE is saying, ‘It doesn’t really have any direct impact on a student’s legal status’. In other cases, the U.S. government is saying it means the student is no longer lawfully present in the United States and could be arrested or deported,” Frenzen said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News that Friday’s decision only restores SEVIS access for people who have active visas, saying that they have not “reversed course on a single visa revocation.”
With some students feeling pressured to self-deport out of fear and uncertainty, hundreds of individual lawsuits have been filed on behalf of international students who say they received minimal explanation for their sudden lack of status. District courts have ruled these visa terminations unlawful almost unanimously. But the relief granted to these students could be just temporary.
Despite this reversal, ICE has begun developing a new system for reviewing and terminating SEVIS records for students studying in the U.S., according to the New York Times. This means that students whose SEVIS registration and legal status were restored may still be at risk in the future.
“It is a mess, not only because of these things that are happening, but the interpretations by the government as to what the consequences of visa revocation and/or SEVIS record termination mean,” Frenzen said. “The inconsistencies are just creating, you know, tremendous confusion.”
Students are encouraged to use USC’s Office of International Services (OIS) website to access further updates and information about ongoing changes for international students.