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In resistance to Trump administration's recent immigration policy, a group of educational institutions in the United States, including The New School, a New York-based private research university with one of the excessive quotient of international students, has filed a lawsuit saying it would adversely impact these students.
Under the immigration policy, international students, for no fault of theirs, could find themselves barred from entering the U.S for three to 10 years.
The change announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that came into effect from August 9 means international students automatically begin to increase "unlawful presence" in the U.S., the day after they go against their "student status" even if their granted term of office of stay has not expired.
Originally, the clock to figure out the number of days of unlawful presence began to tick from the day an immigration judge and government official adjudicated the student as being "out of status".
Referring to the earlier policy, the petition filed with a U.S. district court states that it was nonsubjective. If needed, individuals could leave the U.S. within 180 days and avoid imposition of a three-or 10-year re-entry bar.
"The new policy's use of a backdated unlawful-presence clock will render tens of thousands of F, J and M visa holders subject to three-and 10-year re-entry bars without any opportunity to cure," the petition says.
The petition likewise states that the new policy financially harms the U.S. educational institutions in terms of mislaid tuition dollars.
According to the new policy, the unlawful presence clock is turned back to the date on which the international student first fell "out of status".
The consequences are drastic, particularly for a student who may have unknowingly violated his/her status before. If this is discovered many years later, the student could find himself/herself barred from entering the U.S. for several years. A student's studies could be disrupted or if he or she intends to work in the U.S. post-studies, this possibility is virtually lost.
An individual who accrues over 180 days of unlawful presence before departing from the U.S. can be prohibited from re-entry for three years. An individual unlawfully present in the U.S. for over a year is barred for 10 years.
Even a simple failure to update the designated school officer (DSO) of a change in address or a clerical error by the DSO in entering information into the SEVIS system (database for foreign students) such as extra hours of on-site campus work beyond those allowable can outcome in a student being regarded as "out of status."
"This lawsuit is designed to safeguard the rights of international students in the U.S… They contribute substantially to the fabric of college campuses… This new policy, which upsets more than two decades of consistent immigration practice, is unlawful," Paul Hughes, a Washington-based partner at Mayer Brown LLP and co-counsel to the lawsuit, told TOI.
Owing to the policy change, many students have had to interrupt their studies to avoid the re-entry bar.
-Sowmya Sangam
