Washington – The United States government has begun to shed new light on a Offensive in international studentsexplaining how he addressed thousands of people and establishing the land to finish their legal status.
The new details arose in demands presented by some of the students who suddenly had their state canceled in recent weeks with little explanation.
In the last month, foreign students from the United States have been shaken by knowing that their records had been eliminated from a student database maintained by the application of immigration and customs. Some He hid For fear of deportation or abandoned his studies to return home.
On Friday, after increasing challenges of the Court, federal officials said the government was Restoration of the legal status of international students while developed a frame to guide future endings. In a judicial presentation on Monday, he shared the new policy: a document issued over the weekend with guidance on a variety of reasons that can be canceled the status of the students, including the revocation of the visas they used to enter the United States.
Brad Banias, an immigration lawyer who represents a student whose condition was completed, said that the new guidelines greatly expand ICE authority beyond the previous policy, which did not tell the revocation of visas as reasons for losing legal status. In the past, if a student revoked his visa, he could remain in the United States to finish his studies, they simply could not enter the country again.
“This only gave them Carte Blanche so that the State Department revokes a visa and then sport to those students, even if they have not done anything wrong,” said Banias.
Many of the students who had revoked or lost their legal status said they only had minor infractions in their registry, including traffic violations. Some did not know why they were attacked at all.
Government lawyers provided some explanation at a hearing on Tuesday in the case of the Banias client, Akshar Patel, an international student who studies information systems in Texas. The Patel status was fired, and then was restored this month, and is looking for a preliminary court ruling to avoid being deported.
In judicial presentations and at the hearing, the officials of the Department of National Security said that they directed the names of the students’ visas holders through the National Crime Information Center, a database led by the FBI that contains resumes of information related to the crimes. It includes the names of suspects, missing persons and people who have been arrested, even if they have never been accused of a crime or that has fallen.
In total, around 6,400 students were identified in the search for the database, said American District Ana Reyes at the Audience on Tuesday. One of the students was Patel, who had been arrested and accused of imprudent driving in 2018. The position was ultimately retired, information that is also in NCIC.
Patel appears on a spreadsheet with 734 students whose names had appeared in NCIC. That spreadsheet was sent to a national security officer, who, within 24 hours after receipt, replied: “Please end everything in sevis.” That is a different database that lists foreigners who have legal status as students in the US.
Reyes said that the short period of time suggested that no one had reviewed the records individually to find out why students’ names arose.
“All this could have been avoided if someone had received a rhythm,” said Reyes, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. She said the government had demonstrated “a total lack of concern for people who have entered this country.”
When universities discovered that students no longer had legal status, caused chaos and confusion. In the past, university officials say, the legal states were generally updated after universities told the government that students no longer studied at school.
In some cases this spring, universities told students to stop working or take classes immediately and warned them that they could be deported.
Even so, government lawyers said the change in the database did not mean that students really lost legal status, although some of the students were labeled as “not maintaining status.” Instead, lawyers said, it was destined to be a “red investigation flag.”
“Mr. Patel is legally present in the United States,” said Andre Watson, of the Department of National Security. “It is not subject to immediate detention or elimination.”
Reyes refused to issue a preliminary judicial order and urged the lawyers of both sides to reach an agreement to ensure that Patel can remain in the United States.
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