The Trump administration is emphasizing that U.S. visas and green cards are revocable, coinciding with reports about the deportation of international students engaged in protests and other activities in the U.S.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has recently posted warnings on X, directed at visa-holders and permanent residents, indicating that their privileges could be revoked.
A recent USCIS post on X stated, “Green cards and visas are a privilege for those who contribute positively to the U.S., not for those who aim to damage it from within.”
“Green cards and visas will be revoked if an alien breaks the law,” a USCIS post Tuesday reads.
A USCIS post on Monday also warns anyone with a visa who “supports terrorism, overstays their permitted visit time, performs illegal work, or anything else that violates the terms on which we granted them this privilege or compromises the safety of our fellow Americans.”
The Administration also says that security vetting continues for all visa-holders once in the country, and they can be removed if deemed a threat to U.S. society.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., ordered a Turkish-national student from Tufts University returned to Vermont after the Trump administration sought to send her to Louisiana for deportation. The administration wants to deport Rümeysa Öztürk after she co-authored a pro-Palestinian op-ed in the university’s newspaper on March 25, The Hill reports.
Öztürk is challenging her detention as unconstitutional retaliation under the First Amendment.
She must be returned by May 14 and will remain in custody. A bail hearing is set for Friday, the court ruled.
International students and workers on H-1B visas are being warned their actions will be scrutinized.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on April 30 announced a “one-strike” zero tolerance policy for all temporary visa holders, including visitors and foreign-born professionals on H-1B visas.
Since then, USCIS has started issuing Requests for Evidence for H-1B petitions when questionable information is sought.
“The State Department has now made clear that a visa is a privilege, not a right,” Rubio wrote in a document “100 Days of an America First State Department.”
“There is now a one-strike policy: Catch-And-Revoke. Whenever the government catches non-U.S. citizens breaking our laws, we will take action to revoke their status. The time of contemptuously taking advantage of our nation’s generosity ends. This extends to the thousands of foreign students studying in the United States who abuse our hospitality,” Rubio wrote. “The State Department now reviews law-enforcement information about student visa holders and when we find those who have supported terrorists or otherwise abused our hospitality, their visas are instantly revoked.”
This policy differs from previous administration that primarily have focused on deporting individuals with criminal records.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had terminated the records of upwards of 5,000 international students in the agency’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (Sevis), a federal database used to track international students’ immigration status, according to human rights groups and immigration lawyers.
But recently the federal government has begun restoring the records of F-1 student visas following several court rulings.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
