Four individuals at Emory University have had their student visas terminated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the school announced Thursday.
The individuals include one current student and three alumni. The alumni are still under the private Atlanta university’s immigration sponsorship as they complete their post-graduate practical training.
In a message to the Emory community, Lanny S. Liebeskind, interim executive vice president for academic affairs, said the school learned of the news Tuesday. Emory’s office of International Student and Scholar Services was checking the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System — an online database the U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information about international students — when it discovered the SEVIS records of four Emory community members had been terminated.
Once a student’s SEVIS record is terminated, they no longer have legal status in the country. Without legal status, they can be detained by immigration authorities.
Emory’s message does not detail why the visas have been revoked.
Liebeskind said the university “will continue to monitor the SEVIS database for any additional terminations” and “will communicate directly with impacted individuals on an ongoing basis.”
Other universities nationwide have had similar experiences, learning the visas of their international students had been canceled only after checking SEVIS, according to news reports. As of Thursday, more than 120 colleges and universities have identified more than 640 international students and recent graduates who have had their legal status changed by the State Department, according to an analysis by Inside Higher Ed.
The University of Georgia confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that some of its international students had visas terminated, but it did not specify how many or how the school learned of the terminations. Students at Kennesaw State University also had their visas abruptly terminated, according to the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. KSU did not confirm or deny the terminations.
“Similar to universities across the nation, we are closely following the developments related to international students and their visas,” the school said in a statement. “As KSU works to follow all federal and state regulations and the policies of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, we will continue to do everything we can to legally support our students.”
CAIR-Georgia legal director Javeria Jamil said the status terminations at KSU, Emory and UGA were illegal and should be immediately reversed by the Department of Homeland Security. “University officials, Georgia elected officials, and all Georgians, should stand firmly with international students who are being targeted,” Jamil said in a statement.
Georgia Tech and Georgia State University have so far declined to say if any of their international students have had their visas revoked.
“Recent news stories have highlighted the terminations of such SEVIS records at many of our peer institutions and the potential impact on the legal status of international students and scholars. Unfortunately, members of the Emory community have now been directly affected by such terminations,” Liebeskind wrote. “As we continue to navigate this rapidly changing environment together, please strive to take care of yourselves and each other.”
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