Immigration attorney shares insight as student visas revoked

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Universities are making new efforts to help students who are here on a visa.

It comes after reports of deportations at several state universities as some students’ visas have been revoked.

UMKC said “a small number of students” have been affected and are working with the students.

“UMKC is able to offer academic support to any affected students, while it is up to students to determine whether they will seek legal advice from an attorney of their choosing. We have shared the following guidance with international students and scholars,” a UMKC Spokesperson said.

KCTV5 confirmed similar cases of students across the state.

Missouri State University is providing academic support to six students whose student visas have been revoked.

Park University announced five students also had theirs revoked.

“Two are current graduate students, while three had recently graduated and earned a master’s degree. Those three were on their OPT (optional practical training), which is temporary employment that is directly related to the (on F-1 visa) international student’s area of study. The University is providing resources to help these individuals, including legal resources. Park University’s leadership and its international education staff continue to monitor the situation and are supporting its students to the fullest extent possible,” said a Park University Spokesperson.

In addition, 43 students had their visas revoked at Northwest Missouri State University.

“Five of these individuals are current students, and the other 38 are optional practical training students who are graduated but remain in the U.S. for employment associated with their F1 visas.

“Please know this situation continues to evolve and Northwest’s International Involvement Center is working directly with the impacted students to offer guidance. However, these students also are being advised that they depart the U.S. immediately to avoid accruing unlawful presence,” NWMSU said.

KCTV5 spoke with Rekha Sharma-Crawford, a local immigration attorney who said these students receive vague emails from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“It says you are now to leave the United States immediately, and if you don’t, we will hunt you down, we will deport you so that you can never return to the United States. That is what the email is saying,” Sharma-Crawford said.

Sharma-Crawford said with no solid reasoning, it leaves stress and confusion for many throughout the community.

“One of the hardest things is that the emails they’re getting don’t specify the grounds and the reasons behind why they are being revoked,” Sharma-Crawford said.

While she doesn’t know for certain, what she’s gathered is that there are certain groups of students receiving these emails.

“One group of people are those who have engaged in some form of free speech,” Sharma-Crawford said. “The second group of people are people who had traffic violations or minor criminal types of situations that aren’t major; they aren’t felonies. They are either minor traffic violations or no insurance. Then the third group are people who are on what is called occupational practical training, which are people who have graduated and then they get a year, a permit basically to be able to work for a year. Those individuals who have minor traffic or criminal issues, that’s the third group.”

Sharma-Crawford said some of these students have chosen to leave out of fear.

“Some are saying, ‘Look, I haven’t done anything wrong,’ but you’re hearing stories everywhere of people being detained, people being sent to foreign prisons,” Sharma-Crawford said. “I mean, these are kids, 25, 23, 22 years old, most of them, if not all of them, have never been arrested; they have never been in jail. So, the idea of that kind of prospect being out there, it’s terrifying.”

She advises that students should get help immediately if they receive an email.

“I think for the students, they should use due-diligence and not just simply take the email and take it for its face value,” Sharma-Crawford said. “I think the best thing they can do is seek out legal counsel, get information, and then make an informed decision.”

The ACLU, or American Civil Liberties Union, is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and preserving individual rights on a wide range of issues, including free speech, religious freedom, equality, and protecting the rights of marginalized groups. The ACLU released a statement lifting up international students as vital leaders, solidifying U.S. relations abroad.

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