Trump administration says it has revoked 6,000+ student visas
Trump administration revoking thousands of student visas
The Trump administration has reportedly already revoked more than 6,000 student visas this year because of overstays and criminal violations. FOX 9's Paul Blume has more on the crackdown on college campuses.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - U.S. State Department officials say they have revoked more than 6,000 student visas for overstays and law violations this year – including those supporting terrorism. The agency also singled out other criminal violations including assault, drunk driving and burglary.
And they continue to fight for the deportation of students who have claimed victory in federal court to remain in Minnesota.
Government targets law-breakers
What we know:
U.S. State Department officials say they have revoked more than 6,000 student visas for overstays and law violations this year – including "support for terrorism." The agency also singled out other criminal violations including assault, drunk driving and burglary.
"Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States," a senior State Department official said in a statement to the FOX News Digital team. "About 4,000 visas alone have been revoked because these visitors broke the law while visiting our country, including records of assault and DUIs."
FOX 9 Investigators find impacted students in federal court
Local perspective:
The FOX 9 Investigators reviewed federal court records involving international students in Minnesota who were either detained or had their academic status jeopardized as part of the Trump Administration’s targeting of college campuses earlier this year.
The review found the Trump administration repeatedly failed to justify its targeting of international students on college campuses across Minnesota.
In those cases, nearly a dozen international students were granted relief after they were detained by ICE or had their student immigration status revoked because the federal government submitted little to "no evidence."
The administration lost in every case reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators.
"It was like, across the board," said University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Virgil Wiebe. "The judges were saying, it violates the administrative procedures act, maybe the first amendment, due process violations. So, it was across the board that the students were running the table against the government."
56 days in ICE custody
Timeline:
The FOX 9 Investigators found students from India, China and Indonesia who were caught up in the Trump Administration’s immigration sweep across higher education during the spring semester.
The most high-profile case involved a University of Minnesota graduate student from Turkey who was enrolled at the Carlson School of Management. Dogukan Gunaydin was held in ICE detention for 56 days.
Gunaydin was arrested March 27 as the government argued he posed a public safety threat because of a prior drunk driving offense.
His legal team responded that the crime was not a deportable offense. An immigration court judge ultimately agreed, terminating removal proceedings against Gunaydin. But government attorneys appealed the ruling, keeping Gunaydin behind bars even as they acknowledged "Gunaydin is winning."
On May 21, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Bryan ordered Gunaydin’s immediate release.
In his ruling, Judge Bryan wrote, "the Court expresses its concern that agency officials have exceeded the authority delegated to the agency by Congress."
A day later, Gunaydin walked out of custody. He said at the time, "I am deeply troubled and harmed by this clear violation of my constitutional right for due process. It took 56 days to undo something that should not have happened in the first place. 56 days I did not see the sun or sky."
Targeted for free speech
The backstory:
In a separate case, a student from Bangladesh was detained by ICE near the Minnesota State Mankato campus in late March. He was locked up for 40 days before a federal judge ordered his release.
The government argued Mohammed Hoque was a public safety threat because he had been charged with a crime in a minor, misdemeanor assault case from two years ago.
But U.S. District Court Judge Jerry Blackwell found Hoque was targeted because of his social media posts supporting Palestinian human rights.
In his final order, Judge Blackwell wrote, "The record contains sufficiently clear evidence of viewpoint-based targeting for (Hoque’s) exercise of protected speech on a matter of public concern…(Hoque’s) arrest aligns with the publicly stated executive policy of targeting social media users who express support for Palestinian human rights and criticize violence in Gaza."
However, DHS is still pursuing deportation efforts against him. Government attorneys have now taken the case to the Eighth Circuit United States Court of Appeals.