Immigration and customs enforcement show that it can begin to terminate a person’s legal status due to visa revocation.
An internal memorandum of all students and exchange visitor program personnel belonging to ICE shows an extension of ICE that terminates the legal status of foreign-born students in the United States, including “U.S. National Visa Revocation (Effective Now)”. It was filed in court Monday night by the Justice Department and dated Saturday.
Previously, students had multiple reasons to lose their legal status, including their cessation of school, loss of work authorization, or commit certain crimes. But generally, students will have the right to due process before termination of their legal status, the attorney said. Now, according to the memorandum, visa revocation itself is a reason to terminate status.
The memo shows the expansion of ice. Houston-based immigration attorney Steven Brown said the new policy “for at least 15 years of SEVP guidance” refers to the student and exchange visitor program that belongs to the ICE.
"Historically, the State Department has revoked visas for a number of reasons," Brown said. "But that won't affect your non-immigrant status in the United States. Now they're trying to do that."
The Trump administration announced at a hearing Friday that the legal status of international students will be terminated in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the Trump administration said the ICE will develop a new policy that will "provide a framework for the termination of status records."
According to the memorandum, SEVIS records can now be terminated for a variety of reasons, ranging from “exceeding unemployment time” to “changes in violation of status requirements.”
"When SEVP has objective evidence that non-immigrant visa holders no longer comply with their non-immigrant status terms, the records of SEVIS can be terminated on this basis," the memorandum said.
By discretion, the ICE may also conduct further investigations based on the evidence or initiate deletion procedures.
The memorandum confirms an existing rule that the State Council can “revoke foreign visas at any time, at its discretion.”
"When a state immediately revokes a foreigner's visa, the ICE should take steps to begin the revocation process," the memorandum said. "If the state immediately revokes a non-immigrant visa, the SEVP may terminate the non-immigrant SEVIS record based on the immediate effect of visa revocation."
The memorandum emphasizes that the document cannot be used as a substitute for applicable law.
"This is not intended and does not depend on any administrative, civil or criminal matter that can be legally enforced by any right or benefit, substantial or procedural," the memorandum said.
In March, the Trump administration began revoking visas for thousands of international students in addition to record and legal status. Critics say the government appears to be targeting people participating in political activism or previous allegations, such as DUIS.
Immigration lawyers and universities say many international students are starting to find their records suddenly recovered last week after many successful challenges ended in the U.S. The lawyer said there was little explanation for the restoration. As of Tuesday, several universities, including Northeastern, Harvard and the University of Connecticut, reported that the status of all students affected by the termination had been restored.
Cleveland-based immigration attorney Jath Shao, representing several international students affected by visa revocation, said the new policy presents a series of new challenges for students.
"ICE has now completed the assignment and has issued this memorandum to give the judge the authority they just told them they don't," Shao said. "Students should be worried that even minor issues can have serious consequences and should also consult a lawyer if there is anything to worry about in the past."