In early April, the State Department unlawfully– without notice, cause or due process– began to terminate thousands of international students’ records in the database used by U.S. colleges and universities to monitor and ensure the eligibility of their international students. The database, which is maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, is called the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (“SEVIS”). As a result, colleges and universities across the country rushed to inform students that they had lost their immigration status and advised them to immediately leave the country.
Students’ classwork, research projects, graduate employment, and academic careers were abruptly forced to a screeching halt. Even worse, given the national landscape of notorious arrests and high-profile forceable deportations, panic and fear ensued. Many students were so terrified that they self-deported immediately. Many of them had dependent spouses and children, who were uprooted with them.
Some brave students in several jurisdictions across the country filed lawsuits. Others, too fearful of ICE retaliation, remained here in limbo, worrying about their options. Within a matter of weeks, however, to shed the legal challenges, the government unilaterally reversed all of the SEVIS terminations. For the many students who had already self-deported, this policy change came too late. ICE did not have to expend any resources to round them up and deport them; they were conveniently gone. Colleges and universities had been manipulated into expediting ICE’s dirty work.
But, sad as it is, this does not end the story. Those who remain are still not safe. The administration has already demonstrated that it is intent on carrying out the mass removal of students as retaliation for protected speech, for trivial reasons, or even for no reason at all. ICE continues to have the ability to terminate students’ visa status and seek deportation proceedings against them. And there is no assurance that the capricious administration that abruptly cancelled students’ SEVIS records, and then equally abruptly reinstated them, won’t spontaneously vacillate again.
International students are a vital presence in our colleges and universities. Their diverse perspectives, ideas, and cultures enrich the educational experience of all students and prepare all students for work and life in an interconnected world. Their economic contributions – over $43.8 billion annually through tuition and living expenses - permit our institutions of higher learning to fund programs and facilities for all students and support local economies. And their contributions continue after graduation. A quarter of the billion-dollar companies in our country were founded by former international students, and nearly half of the PhD STEM workers in our country were born outside the US.1 Protecting these students - our global talent - is not just the right thing to do; it’s smart andin our best interests as a nation.
Colleges and universities can and should stand up for their international students by avoiding premature or unnecessary compliance with the deportation machine. As an example, they may decline to enter into what’s known as 287(g) agreements with ICE. These agreements, which are strictly voluntary, deputize the campus police, who otherwise have no role in immigration enforcement, making them enforcers for ICE.
To preserve the integrity of one of this nation’s most treasured assets, our system of higher education, U.S. colleges and universities should proceed with care to avoid unnecessarily capitulating to pressure to act as an arm of ICE. We must protect the safety and legal rights of our international students.
