At least 12 international students attending Ohio State have had their F-1 visas revoked at the time of publication, university spokesperson Ben Johnson confirmed Tuesday. Credit: Lantern File Photo
Over the past few weeks, universities across the country have seen several of their international students lose their F-1 visas due to federal revocations.
At least 12 international students attending Ohio State have had their F-1 visas revoked at the time of publication, university spokesperson Ben Johnson confirmed Tuesday.
Students, faculty, staff and university leaders are now raising various questions about the federal government’s level of transparency, why this is happening to students and how universities can best assist and protect those affected.
In an effort to address these inquiries, The Lantern sat down with immigration experts to gain more insight into the intricacies of the visa process and public universities’ economic relationship with the federal government.
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law, said F-1 visas and legal status are two distinct parts of the immigration process.
“A visa is simply the document that federal government officials grant to people who are innocuous citizens that permits them to travel to the United States, to request admission into the United States,” García Hernández said.
Put simply, a student’s F-1 status is what allows international students to attend university in the United States and work in fields related to their studies, García Hernández said.
“Student F-1 status gives people permission to not only go to school, pursue their studies, but also, within some of the limits, to engage in some work that’s usually related to their course of study,” García Hernández said.
In addition, García Hernández said a visa revocation for someone already inside the United States isn’t as relevant as whether or not they hold a valid legal status allowing them to remain in the country.
“Revoking a visa is effectively irrelevant to somebody who is already in the United States, because it is only relevant to the question of ends, which is if somebody who is in the United States and wants to leave and then return to the United States,” García Hernández said. “Because they no longer have a visa, they no longer have the federal government’s permission to enter the United States.”
As of Tuesday, “at least 790 students at more than 120 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks,” according to the Associated Press.
Though this influx is unusual, García Hernández said the Trump administration has more legal grounds to terminate visas rather than terminate a student’s legal status altogether.
“In the past, on those occasions when the federal government has terminated [or] revoked the students’ visas, they typically allow the students to continue studying, finishing that term at a minimum, and then with the expectation that they would leave after that, but not to do so in a sort of abrupt fashion,” García Hernández said.
García Hernández said he hopes that Ohio State pairs affected international students with legal counsel so that they can contest the government’s decision to revoke their visas.
“I would also hope that the university is considering joining lawsuits at other universities pursuing to hold the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration accountable to the legal process that they are required to follow in any instance in which they hope to either revoke students’ visas or terminate their legal status,” García Hernández said.
Tuesday, Ahwar Sultan — a second-year graduate student in comparative studies — filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alongside Ohio State’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, claiming unconstitutional retaliation by the federal government in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments, per prior Lantern reporting.
Jared Gardner, a professor of English at Ohio State and secretary of the University Senate, said the revocation of visas has made this semester one of the most difficult moments of his educational career.
“The incredible inability to really understand what’s happening and why, and to know how, or even if it’s possible, to take steps to meaningfully protect our students is really chilling,” Gardner said.
As secretary of the University Senate, Gardner works as part of Ohio State’s governing body, which advises university leaders on academic policy and aids in navigating issues the institution faces, according to the senate’s website.
Gardner said he believes the federal government’s actions are meant to not only instill fear in student protesters, but also within public higher education institutions themselves.
“They’re put into a place where if they speak out, if they speak up, if they take overt steps to resist the actions of the federal government, they very much risk putting their international students in more danger,” Gardner said.
Since many institutions of higher education receive grants and funding from the federal government, Gardner said officials can use monetary support as leverage against universities.
“It’s a very challenging time where higher education’s No. 1 partner — really collaborative, good partner — has suddenly turned against higher education and is using the federal dollars that have always been of mutual benefit against us,” Gardner said.
As of now, Ohio State and other universities can focus on communicating with their campus communities and supporting students as best they can, Gardner said.
“We need to support them in what ways we can, and there are some strong legal limits on that support,” he said. “I mean, people don’t want to hear it, but there are some real limits on what we can do for our vulnerable students.”
Gardner said though he shares the frustration and sense of powerlessness felt by many educators across the country, he ultimately encourages faculty and students to be patient with the administration.
“I’ll keep encouraging administration and leadership to communicate more,” Gardner said, “But I also think we need to have patience and understanding and maybe focus more on what we as faculty can do for our international students and what fellow students can do for their colleagues or international students.”
