Universities continue to warn international students about traveling abroad this summer, since the Trump administration said Friday that it would restore legal status to those who had revoked their visas.
The University of California, Berkeley, reiterated hours after the announcement that travel abroad by international students are still a high risk because immigration policies can change quickly.
Many universities from all over the country have warned international students about traveling abroad this summer, fearing that many are not allowed to return.
“Due to the greatest risks involved in reinction in the United States, we are advising the members of the International Community of Duke to avoid international trips unless it is essential,” the university wrote last week in a memorandum to students and professors. “A valid visa does not guarantee the entrance to the US.”
The administration policy change occurred after thousands of international university students had already had their visas, legal states and the finished immigration records.
But that does not change the imperative of being caution when they decide whether to travel abroad, said Jeff Joseph, elected president of the American Association of Immigration Lawyers.
“Traveling outside the country can be risky,” he said, adding that international students should consult with a lawyer. “The fact is that the State Department has unilateral authority to revoke visas for any reason or no reason.”
It was not clear how many campus they had issued warnings about leaving the United States, but at least five campuses, including Duke University and UC Berkeley, sent notices this month to their international communities.
A newly university graduate from China, who lives in Washington, DC, said he had to think twice before returning home in December, knowing that the then elected president Donald Trump, who promised to severely reduce immigration, would soon assume the position.
“I worried that they did not even allow me to return to this country, although I am perfectly authorized to work and live here,” said the recent graduate, who was granted anonymity because he was afraid to be the aim of deportation or revoke his visa.
He reserved a flight to return to the United States before the inauguration of January 20.
International students who are under a lot of stress must make their own decisions about whether to go home and visit their families, some of which have not seen for two or three years, said Fanta AW, CEO of the International Educators Association.
“You have to understand why the students are happening, and they may want to go home,” AW said.
Thousands of students on university campuses throughout the country have revoked their visas in recent weeks by the Trump administration, who says that he must protect American citizens from immigrants who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten national security or adopt hateful ideology.
The administration said Friday that the visas of international students would be restored while ICE develops a “frame” to revoke immigration records.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said last month that the State Department had revoked 300 or more visas of students, since the White House increasingly attacked students born abroad whose main transgression seems to have been activism.
However, many of the international students said that they have not participated in protests on the Israel-Ahamas War or political discourse, and that they do not seem to represent a threat.
“Stay here, there is no doubt,” said Joseph, the immigration lawyer. “If you leave, the only remedy you have is to go to the State Department and get a new visa, but when you are out of the country, you do not have the same protections as the courts as you when you are within the country.”
