US: 118 foreign students' legal statuses revoked across Texas universities

Texas, April 11 (IANS) At least 118 foreign students' legal statuses have been revoked across the universities in the US state of Texas as of Thursday, according to local media reports.

These students were informed recently that their visas were revoked or their immigration status was marked as terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, known as the SEVIS federal database, reports Xinhua news agency, citing The Texas Tribune.

At least 27 students in the University of North Texas and another 27 in the University of Texas (UT) at Arlington were removed from SEVIS, said the report, citing university officials.

As many as 10 UT-El Paso students had their visas revoked, said a report from local media outlet KFOX14.

Affected universities also include UT-Dallas, Texas A&M, UT-Rio Grande, Texas Women's University and Texas Tech, according to the report.

Phillip Rodriguez, an immigration lawyer, told The Texas Tribune that students who are removed from SEVIS can choose to leave or apply to reinstate their status.

However, choosing to remove students from SEVIS rather than revoking visas creates a more difficult appeal process, he said.

"I think they're proactively making it so that they basically can't continue studies or making it extremely difficult to continue their studies here in the United States without some sort of intervention," said another immigration lawyer, Robert Hoffman.

SEVIS removal also can affect employment eligibility and the status of dependents like spouses and children, whose ability to stay in the United States depends on the primary status holder, he added.

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, hundreds of international students at dozens of US universities have been removed from SEVIS, with many of them reportedly involved in the pro-Palestinian campus protests last year and some reportedly for minor infractions like traffic violations, according to US media reports.

The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Wednesday that it would begin screening international students' social media for "antisemitic" content.

--IANS

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