Texas— The legal status of at least 118 foreign students across universities in Texas has been revoked, according to local media reports.
These students were recently notified that their visas had been canceled or their immigration status marked as “terminated” in the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), The Texas Tribune reported, citing data from the SEVIS database.
Among those affected, 27 students at the University of North Texas and another 27 at the University of Texas at Arlington were removed from SEVIS, according to university officials. At the University of Texas at El Paso, 10 students reportedly had their visas revoked, local outlet KFOX14 reported.
Other impacted institutions include the University of Texas at Dallas, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Texas Woman’s University, and Texas Tech University.
Immigration attorney Phillip Rodriguez told The Texas Tribune that students removed from SEVIS can either leave the country or apply for status reinstatement. However, removal from SEVIS, as opposed to visa revocation, makes the appeals process more difficult.
“I think they’re proactively making it extremely difficult for students to continue their studies in the U.S. without some form of intervention,” added immigration lawyer Robert Hoffman. He also noted that SEVIS removal could jeopardize the employment eligibility and immigration status of dependents, such as spouses and children.
Since former President Donald Trump took office in January, hundreds of international students across numerous U.S. universities have been removed from SEVIS, with many reportedly linked to pro-Palestinian campus protests and others allegedly penalized for minor infractions, including traffic violations, according to U.S. media outlets.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Wednesday that it would begin screening international students’ social media for “antisemitic” content. (Source: IANS)
