For weeks now, dozens of international college students in Massachusetts have been trying to figure what to do next after their visas were revoked by the Trump administration with little warning or explanation. It's the subject of a recent letter to federal leaders sent by Congressman Jim McGovern of the 2nd district. He’s demanding to know why students in his district and beyond have been affected and what recourse they have. The Democrat spoke with WAMC about the issue - and whether his office has heard back...
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CONGRESSMAN JIM MCGOVERN: No, we haven't, and we're following up – asking where the answers are. I mean, these aren't trick questions: these are things they should be able to answer pretty quickly. We want to know why these visas were being revoked, we want to know what the process was, we also want to know whether there's an appeal process.
Look, there are 13 students at UMass in Amherst, 12 students at Clark [University], four students at [Worcester Polytechnic Institute] that have had their visas revoked and there's over 10,000 international students in my congressional district who are going to some of our universities - they're contributing $413.5 million to our economy – so, I sent a letter to State and to DHS on April 11, demanding answers by last Friday and I still have not received a response and it's really frustrating.
WAMC: Has your office been in contact with either students affected or the universities and, if so, what have you been hearing?
MCGOVERN: Yes, we have - We've been in contact with all the universities. We've talked to some of the students who are, quite frankly, deeply concerned because they're not quite sure why their visa is being revoked and they want to know whether they're going to have an appeals process.
You know, every person in this country has constitutional rights, regardless of their citizenship status, and these students were not notified that their visas had been revoked and so far, they've been denied any due process. The schools only became aware of the revoked visas kind of almost by accident - they were not formally notified and this isn't just happening in Massachusetts - it's happening all around the country and I think some students are concerned that, maybe, it's because the administration didn't like something they posted on social media or because of an event they may have attended - none of them have been accused of breaking the law, but if it is really about something that they've said or put on their social media, I just remind Trump that free speech and debate and culture exchanges are core pillars of the American colleges and universities, and this administration is using fear and politically motivated targeting to try to silence students and extinguish this culture.
This is really chilling and, and today, it's international students - tomorrow, it may be American-born citizens who are being targeted - maybe their federal financial aid will be frozen, maybe pressure will be put on their college or university to dismiss them, and if they don't, and that college or university may lose federal funding. Again, if students can have their legal status revoked with no explanation or disappeared by masked individuals in unmarked vans, the slide into authoritarianism has already begun.
WAMC: Has there been any sense of pattern at all when it comes to these revocations - besides them [involving] international students? Across the country, some reports suggest minor traffic violations could be enough to lead to a student visa being revoked. There's at least one case involving a Brigham Young University student from Japan whose visa was revoked with only speeding tickets and some kind of fishing license-related violation on his record. Has anything emerged from what you've seen when it comes to a pattern?
MCGOVERN: We don't know enough about all the individual cases, but I think the Trump administration is trying to get to their goal of deporting a million people by the end of the year and they're doing everything they can, including what I think is this ridiculous attack on international students.
You know, I talked to a group of international students at UMass Boston last week, and some of them are engaged in PhD programs and they've invested a lot in their degrees, but they were kind of opining that, if they had known that they would not be welcome here, if they had known that their status would be in a constant state of uncertainty, maybe they would have pursued a degree in Canada or the UK or France - someone even said maybe even China - but they thought the United States was a place where everyone was welcome, where people wouldn't be targeted because of the color of their skin or their nationality or even their political beliefs, but increasingly, with the focus on revoking the visas of international students, with ICE basically picking people up, kidnapping them and disappearing them, this country is looking more and more like China or Russia or North Korea, and it really has caused a great deal of concern.
It'd be interesting to see how many international students want to apply to programs in the United States next year, given the fact that you don't know what the Trump administration is going to do one day or the next - and by the way, some of the students that are being targeted are people who are doing doctorate degrees in medical science, people working on research to find cures to diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer, you name it.
This is so short-sighted, and it really betrays kind of the uniqueness and the values that people believe we have here in the United States.
WAMC: You raise this question in your letter - what recourse do these students have at this point in time? I realize a class-action lawsuit has emerged involving the ACLU - anything in particular?
MCGOVERN: Well … right now, we have to look to the courts because we can't expect Congress, under Republican leadership in the House and Senate, to allow us to do oversight hearings, or even to be able to bring legislation to the floor - using litigation may be our best course of action right now.
We also need to get answers from the administration. It is not okay for them to be pursuing policies that have caused such disruption and feel they don't have to answer questions … or even explain why they're doing what they're doing.
So, we support any litigation to try to reverse this terrible trend and, again… our country has benefited from the presence of international students, some of whom who have ended up staying here, and who have pursued careers in the sciences that have spurred the creation of jobs and who have moved medical research forward, that have kept us a leader in bio engineering.
Again, this makes no sense … unless you’re just anti-immigrant. I mean, with Trump, you never know what the motivation is, but this is not who we are, and I think most Americans, including some Republicans, object to what he's doing.
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That was Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, speaking with WAMC earlier this week about the questions that remain after dozens of international college students in Massachusetts saw their visas revoked.
As of Friday, WBUR of Boston estimates at least 119 students and graduates have been affected by the revocations in the Commonwealth – with Northeastern University believed to have the most at 40.
In the time since WAMC spoke with Rep. McGovern, local media reports the aforementioned BYU graduate student has had his visa reinstated.
