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At least 252 international students and one professor at Texas universities have had their legal status changed in a wave of removals from a federal database that have swept across the state and the nation.
The students learned in recent days their visas were revoked or their immigration status was marked as terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS database.
Visa revocations prevent re-entering the U.S. but do not immediately end an individual’s status. SEVIS removals do, limiting students’ options and causing a much more immediate effect.
On Tuesday, the University of Houston confirmed a faculty member who taught an upper level math class was among those who had been affected.
Hyeongseon "Sammy" Jeon was working at the university under a type of student visa that allows graduates to work in their field of study, typically between one and three years. Jeon, who the university announced joined the tenure-track faculty in September, earned his PhD in statistics from Iowa State University.
He told students last week that Tuesday would be his last class with them, but he hoped to return next semester.
"Due to the unexpected termination of my visa — an issue that has recently impacted many international scholars — I must return to Korea and immediately resolve my immigration status," he wrote in an email, which also informed them another professor would be taking over.
The Texas Tribune reached out to Jeon by phone and email but did not hear back.
The University of Houston has previously declined to release the number of students affected, but the university's chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine estimates it is 12.
Other universities, meanwhile, have disclosed the number of their students who have been affected.
On Monday, the University of Texas System said 176 students at its 14 institutions had been affected as of last week. The system did not break it down by institution but several of its schools disclosed their own numbers last week:
- University of Texas at Arlington: 27
- University of Texas at Dallas: 19
- University of Texas at El Paso: 10
- University of Texas Rio Grande Valley: 9
Also on Monday, the Texas A&M University System said 38 students at its 11 universities have been affected:
- Texas A&M University: 23
- Prairie View A&M University: 1
- Texas A&M University Texarkana: 1
- Texas A&M University Kingsville: 9
- Texas A&M University Corpus Christi: 3
- Texas A&M International University: 1
Other universities that reported the number of their international students who have been affected last week include:
- University of North Texas: 27
- Texas Woman’s University: 6
- Texas Tech University: 3
- Texas State University: 2 (via Inside Higher Ed)
The University of Texas at Austin, where police arrested dozens for protesting the Israel-Hamas war, told the Houston Chronicle that some of their international students had a change in their immigration status, but declined to say how many.
Robert Hoffman, an immigration lawyer with offices in Houston and Bryan, said SEVIS removal also can affect employment eligibility and the status of dependents like spouses and children, whose ability to stay in the U.S. depends on the primary status holder.
“Unfortunately, these kinds of terminations kind of short-circuit due process by not allowing the student the opportunity to hear the specifics of their charges or defend themselves,” Hoffman said.
Neither university nor government officials have made it clear how students and the professor were chosen for removal. However, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement Wednesday saying it would begin screening international students’ social media for “antisemitic” content. DHS’ statement cited two executive orders from President Donald Trump, described by the White House as aiming to crack down on “the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets,” referencing pro-Palestine protests on college campuses. Several Texas universities, including UNT and UTD, were sites of similar protests.
Students who are removed from SEVIS have only a few options for recourse, said Phillip Rodriguez, another Bryan-based immigration lawyer. Students can choose to leave, or apply to reinstate their status.
Hoffman said choosing to remove students from SEVIS rather than revoking visas creates a more difficult appeal process.
“I think they're proactively making it so that they basically can't continue studies, or making it extremely difficult to continue their studies here in the United States without some sort of intervention,” Hoffman said.
UNT has one of the highest international enrollments in the U.S., with over 8,000 international students, most of whom are graduate-level, according to university data. Nineteen of the 27 students at UNT who had their SEVIS records removed were graduate students, according to a university spokesperson. UTD has over 4,500 international students, according to the university website.
Daniel Morales, the president of the University of Houston Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said Jeon is likely one of many professors who hold a visa at UH.
"By messing with student and faculty visas what America is signaling very clearly is it doesn't want the best and brightest to study in America and that will have a devastating impact on this country. I don't think that can be overstated," Morales said.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas - Arlington, University of Texas - Dallas, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Houston and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Correction, : Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly rendered the name of Texas Woman's University.
