After the Trump administration revoked thousands of student visas and erased Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems records, including over 30 in the St. Louis area, some students immediately called regional immigration attorneys, petrified.
“For those first two or three days — every single call — the person was crying,” said Jim Hacking of Hacking Immigration Law, who represents four students in the area.
The clients are graduate students studying under F-1 visas at Washington University and St. Louis University. They came to St. Louis for school from China, Cameroon, India and Nigeria.
Many students across the country who received word from their institutions that their records were erased and visas revoked were not given a particular reason why their legal status had changed. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in March that the federal government was revoking student visas and erasing immigration status records because students allegedly participated in illegal campus protests or had a criminal record.
Hacking said his four clients had some interaction with law enforcement, but most of their cases were dropped. He also said none of his clients participated in campus protests.
Although the Trump administration restored thousands of students' records and reinstated visas last week, Hacking said international students should still move with caution, especially those who have had any interaction with police. He urges students to read the latest Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo about how international students could have their legal status terminated.
“Anybody that’s worried that has something in their criminal history, they need to take a look at this memo and see if they think they're going to fall under [the stipulations] because … I think this was just Round 1,” he said.
The Trump administration’s decision to reinstate visas and restore SEVIS records comes after several lawsuits students filed against the government and resulting court orders to block deportations. Attorneys are floating the idea that some of these lawsuits could turn into a class-action suit against the government for wrongfully terminating student immigration records.
“I've never been prouder of the small, little firm immigration lawyers like us … me and like 20 other immigration lawyers filed lawsuits across the country, and we kicked their teeth in over and over,” Hacking said. “We got the federal government to change their policy, which was completely illegal, and judges, too. I'm disheartened a lot about what's going on in America, but for this one little victory, we'll take it.”
Although Hacking’s St. Louis clients' records were restored last week, he said the students are nervous about their immigration status and what they can and cannot do.
Many previously affected students may feel that they are in the clear now, but attorneys are advising them to wait until their SEVIS records are restored to the date of revocation. If students return to their home countries over the summer and there are gaps in their SEVIS records, then students are at risk of not being able to reenter the country.
“All these students have two or three weeks of unauthorized presence, unauthorized status,” Hacking said. “Generally, if you have a break in your status and you want to change your status in the United States, they could make you leave the United States and go through the consulate process and that would be obviously a big burden for people, especially given the fact that the State Departments, are revoking the visas.”
