A Japanese international student pursuing a Ph.D. at Brigham Young University in Utah and raising five children has had his student visa revoked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to two speeding tickets and a fishing violation that was dismissed in court, facing deportation.
This student is named Suguru Onda and is just one year away from completing his doctoral program. ICE provided almost no explanation before revoking his visa.
This decision means that Suguru's wife and five children may also have to leave the United States within weeks and return to Japan, even though they have been living there for many years. According to reports, they have been dependent on Suguru's student visa.
"I think this is so unfair," Suguru told ABC4.com. "They should have at least informed us, contacted us, and given some explanation, but there was nothing."
Suguru said he learned about the change in his immigration status through an email from BYU's office for international students. He personally went to the office to inquire about the details.
"The school didn't receive any notification either, and I didn't get any, and we found out the visa had been terminated," Suguru told ABC.com.
He added, "I know I'm not the only one; many international students are affected by this wave of visa cancellations. I really hope the situation can improve."
Suguru's lawyer, Adam Crayk, said that the explanation provided by the school was that Suguru's "criminal record" was one of the reasons for the termination of his visa. However, after investigation, Crayk discovered that Suguru's "record" included only two speeding tickets and a fishing violation that had already been dismissed in court.
"This is no longer a political issue," Crayk told ABC4.com. "This is a matter of right and wrong."
The authorities informed Suguru that he had several options:
First, return to Japan and reapply for an I-20 form from BYU;
Second, reapply for an F-1 student visa;
Third, wait for the current visa to be reactivated, which could take up to a year.
President Trump has ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to accelerate deportation procedures. Crayk speculated that Suguru's case might be due to the use of artificial intelligence screening technology in the immigration system.
"Whether it's technology, robots, algorithms, AI... they do use some kind of technology," Crayk said. "It's very difficult to regulate millions of student visas manually."
"But when you're making a revocation decision, at least someone should verify it."
Suguru's case is just the tip of the iceberg in President Trump's intensified immigration enforcement actions. Recently, deportees have ranged from serious criminals and rapists to protesters supporting Palestine.
Chinese international students are also facing similar issues. Earlier, the Global Times of China reported that four Chinese students filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, arguing that authorities terminated their statuses without providing any notice, hearing, or evidence, citing vague national security reasons and even using traffic violations from years ago as grounds.
(Screenshot of news report)
These four students come from different universities and majors in the U.S., and some of them are just one or two months away from graduation. They stated that none of them have been convicted in court. Some were once charged, but were not convicted when the cases were dismissed by the prosecution.
Related reading:
Multiple Chinese international students' visas suddenly revoked, suing the U.S. government! Three of them share a common experience...
In late February, DHS Secretary Noem announced that with the cooperation of border commissioner Tom Homan, immigration officials arrested more than 20,000 "fugitive illegal immigrants" since Trump took office.
"This is a 627% monthly increase compared to Biden's era," she posted on X. Last year, Biden only arrested 33,000 people.
Noem also mentioned in another post that the daily average number of illegal entries at the southern border dropped sharply from 15,000 during Biden's administration to only 200 under Trump, setting a "15-year low."
(File photo)
Will international students be deported for a speeding ticket or a domestic violence arrest? It might not have been so strict in the past, but such examples are no longer rare under the current policy environment. Now, lawyers everywhere are brainstorming ways to help their clients seek remedies. We also want to earnestly remind all individuals living and studying in the U.S.: Even the smallest legal issues should not be taken lightly. Compliance is now the most important self-protection.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494419541284356608/
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