U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) joined 142 Members of Congress in demanding answers regarding the termination of students’ legal status. Despite the Trump Administration’s recent claim that it would reverse course, only Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made any policy change. While students are no longer immediately deportable, they will be unable to return to the United States once they go home after the semester ends, as the State Department is not restoring students’ visa status.
“This is not about national security. It is about using immigration enforcement as a weapon to stifle political dissent, restrict due process, and enforce an exclusionary and nativist vision of America that runs counter to everything our institutions of higher learning stand for,” wrote the lawmakers. “Across the country, students are being picked up – in some cases by masked immigration agents in unmarked cars – and being held in detention facilities with no warning and limited information as to why they are being deported.”
According to recent reporting, more than 1,800 students and recent graduates across 280 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked. Since Trump took office, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also confirmed that at least 4,736 have had their legal status terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). However, DHS does not have the authority to terminate this legal status except under very specific circumstances, none of which have been met in the vast majority of these cases.
“Our campuses have been spaces where students and scholars from around the world come together to challenge assumptions, push the boundaries of knowledge, and foster the innovation that has made our country a global leader,” continued the lawmakers. “But today, the Trump administration’s heavy-handed and politically motivated immigration enforcement is turning university campuses into places of fear, rather than learning, and these actions deter students from coming to study at U.S. institutions.”
Reporting has also shown that the State Department has been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to identify students to target through their social media accounts. This aspect is especially troubling as social media accounts may not feature students' names, and AI facial recognition is often prone to mistakes, at significantly higher rates when identifying people of color.
The full text of the letter can be read here.
