Student visa showdown

A Jamaican immigration attorney in the United States (US) believes the Trump administration is headed for a major legal showdown with universities there as the slashing of student visas threaten their funding.

Attorney-at law Oliver J. Langstadt said the revocation of hundreds of visas by the US State Department since January will undoubtedly impact how universities operate, with fees from international students making up a significant portion of the budget for many.

Added to that, he said many of the revocations may be in breach of the US Constitution, citing a violation of the First Amendment which, he said, gives legal foreigners on US soil the same rights as citizens, including protected speech.

Freedom of expression

“It’s a huge problem,” said Langstadt, who is based in Florida.

“Initially, they scored some points with their political base, but I do think the schools are going to start pushing back. I anticipate litigation because, as I said, I think it’s clashing with the Constitution. If these students are simply expressing themselves through freedom of speech or freedom of expression, they have the right to do so,” he told The Gleaner.

He said those actions by themselves should not be enough to revoke the students’ visas.

However, just over a week ago, during a White House briefing, when asked about what several attorneys – including at the American Immigration Lawyers Association – have described as the “unprecedented” revocations of international students’ visas, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce would not give a definitive answer.

“We’ve never gone into the details of the visa process. We don’t discuss individual visas because of the privacy issues involved. We don’t go into statistics or numbers; we don’t go into the rationale for what happens with individual visas.

“What we can tell you is that the department revokes visas every day in order to secure our borders and to keep our community safe, and we’ll continue to do so,” said Bruce during the April 10 briefing.

US media report that more than 1,000 students and graduates have had their visas revoked, unsettling their legal status and ability to continue studying in the country.

Some students have been accused of supporting terrorist organisations, while others have been sent packing over years-old minor offences, including traffic violations.

At least two federal lawsuits have been filed in courts in Georgia and New Hampshire which seek to represent dozens of students each.

Langstadt, who said he has dealt with more than 500 cases involving student visas, asserted that the visa revocations are not solely rooted in stomping out anti-Semitism rhetoric.

He believes the move is an attempt to rein in universities in the northeast of the US, some of which are Ivy League, that the administration considers too liberal leaning.

He noted that the New York-based Columbia University, where one of the biggest pro-Palestinian protests occurred, was only the starting point.

He noted that US President Donald Trump, in his first term, also attempted to cull left-leaning universities, but said at that time he had no solid reason.

The attorney said this time around, the US president has cast a wider net to include protesters, effectively shielding the true motive.

“I think what is not readily apparent is that they are selling it to the public as going after those who are anti-Semitic and are clamping down on anti-Semitism. But I think it is something larger than that. While anti-Semitism may be a component, there is more to it,” Langstadt said, pointing to the showdown between the White House and Harvard University.

“…There is the impression that certain universities, especially in the northeast, are liberal leaning and conservatives have always been irked by it, and especially the Republican Party. Quite often, its members have expressed outright disgust with the universities, saying that they are far too liberal and so, therefore, they need to be brought in line,” the attorney said.

Further, Langstadt said it is a way for Trump to do as he urged weeks ago, to “rein in the elites” who he believes control universities.

“All of this blends in to make the problem,” the attorney said, adding that he has had to counsel several students who fear having their visas revoked.

“What’s going to happen to the US, if they’re not careful, is that other countries are going to step in and fill the gap really quickly. They are just champing at the bit to now try to recruit those students, and you’re going to lose all of that… but it’s all part of this ‘America First’,” he said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com