According to a policy brief report titled “The Scope of Immigration Enforcement Actions Against International Students”, issued by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), out of 327 reports of visa revocations and SEVIS terminations, 50 percent of the students were from India.
Expressing concern over the claim, the Congress on Friday asked whether External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar would take up the issue with his U.S. counterpart.
Tagging External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh asked, “Will the External Affairs Minister take note and raise the concern with his U.S. counterpart?”
https://x.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1913070696860922024
“Out of the 327 visa revocation cases of international students collected by the organisation so far, 50% are Indians. The reasons for revocation are random and unclear. There is growing fear and apprehension,” he said.
AILA collected 327 reports of visa revocations and SEVIS terminations from attorneys, students, and university employees.
Besides the 50 percent of students from India, 14 percent were from China. Other significantly represented countries in the data include South Korea, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
The AILA report alleged that the Department of State (DOS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are “aggressively” targeting international students, including those without a history of protest, for visa revocation, termination of their status, and removal.
The association noted that since Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the new “Catch and Revoke” program, hundreds of additional students have had their visas revoked following encounters with law enforcement, “many of which did not even result in a conviction,” they noted.
“The administration has not publicly stated their rationale for the ICE termination of SEVIS records, but many report having had some interaction with the police. There is some speculation that AI is involved in the ICE termination process as well, targeting students with arrest records,” read the statement.
Calling the administration’s action “unprecedented,” they noted that it carries wide-ranging impacts, raises significant due process concerns, and presents several unresolved legal questions that will likely require litigation to address.
According to the reports, 57 percent of students received notice of their visa revocation, with most notifications sent via email from the consulate that had issued their visas. Only two students reported any history of participating in political protests. In cases of SEVIS termination, the source of notification varied significantly; among the reports where the source was clear, 83 percent of students received notice solely from their university.
They also observed that the stated reasons for SEVIS terminations were not always consistent with the students’ records.
At least 17 reports indicated that students had their SEVIS records terminated or visas revoked due to alleged criminal histories, even though they had no interactions with law enforcement and no records that would justify such actions.
The AILA emphasized that, based on these reports, there is a clear need for greater transparency, oversight, and accountability to prevent further arbitrary visa revocations and SEVIS record terminations.
It also stressed that students should have a mechanism to appeal inaccurate SEVIS terminations without experiencing employment gaps or having to rely on university involvement, considering the large number of students affected.
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