U of A students impacted by DHS visa terminations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — According to a University of Arkansas in Fayetteville (U of A) representative, five students’ visas have been terminated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

U of A spokesperson John Thomas tells 5NEWS the students’ exchange visitor information system (SEVIS) records were terminated by DHS. If a student’s SEVIS record is terminated, their visa becomes invalid immediately.

5NEWS affiliate stations across the U.S. are reporting similar stories, including universities in Connecticut, California, Georgia, and Texas, among others.

According to Associated Press sources, visas can be canceled for a number of reasons, but college leaders say the government has been quietly terminating students’ legal residency status with little notice to students or schools. That marks a shift from past practice and leaves students vulnerable to detention and deportation.

Fayetteville immigration attorney Nathan Bogart said that while there’s not a clear reason why these five students’ visas were terminated, it’s following a national trend. 

“The administration has been open about wanting to revoke student visas for people who have engaged in anything that they might classify as antisemitic behavior but also looking more closely at individuals who may have pending criminal charges or convictions, even if they’re relatively minor issues,” Bogart said.

He said an attorney can try to determine if the government followed the correct procedure when revoking the visa as well as advise a client on what their next steps could be, like looking into reinstatement of their visa. 

“One of the challenges that I understand is that some of these revocations are not very clear as to why they were revoked. They’re usually revoked because there’s been some allegation of national security issues, or because their name is showing up in some type of criminal background database,” Bogart said. “Like it doesn’t it’s not specifically stating that on October 15, 2022, you were convicted of driving while intoxicated, or you participated in this protest. It’s just kind of this vague reason.”

Bogart explained that once a visa is revoked, it doesn’t immediately mean deportation. 

“After about 15 days or so, they are looking at potentially accruing what we call unlawful presence, and if they’re accruing unlawful presence, then that may affect their eligibility for other immigration benefits down the road. It also does make them subject to the possibility of finding themselves in removal proceedings,” Bogart said.

Ultimately, he said he believes this could decrease enrollment of international students at universities. 

“Coming here from another country and investing that much time, that much effort and that much money, if they can see that it’s a possibility that they’re going to get kicked out of the country because of a Facebook post they shared or liked, or because they show up at a demonstration, I think that has the possibility to have a chilling effect and result in fewer international students coming to the United States,” Bogart said. “That’s a massive revenue source that we’re missing out on. It’s also a massive brain drain issue. A lot of them [international students] here studying STEM, they go on to become researchers and doctors and engineers, and for large percentage of those students, they end up staying here the rest of their lives.” 

5NEWS will update this article as more information becomes available.