WASHINGTON: From warnings not to leave the country to guidance on how to complete degrees, US universities are advising foreign students how to withstand President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

First immigration agents arrested students involved in pro-Palestinian protests. Then thousands of foreign students were targeted for deportation over minor offences and arrests.

Now, some university advisers are quietly telling students from abroad to hire a lawyer and keep attending classes while legal appeals play out, according to over twenty students, immigration attorneys and university officials.

University faculty have gone to court to question the constitutionality of arrests.

With a record 1.1 million foreign students in the country, at stake is the $44 billion they contributed to the US economy last year, according to the Association of American Universities, a higher education advocacy group.

It’s not just the money, however. Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), pointed to global talent, saying hers “is an American university and proudly so, but we would be gravely diminished without the students and scholars who join us from other nations”.

Indians hit hard

Over half of foreign students in the United States are from India and China, according to the Institute of International Education advocacy group.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deleted more than 4,700 names from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database of visa holders, often citing criminal activity, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Of those, almost half are Indian students, many of them graduates in work experience known as Optional Practical Training, based on an AILA study of 327 cases.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged students whose SEVIS status had been revoked to leave.

“If you are in our country illegally, we will arrest, we will deport you, and you will never return,” McLaughlin said in a statement.

University officials are telling full-time students to hire a lawyer. Those who contest being deleted from SEVIS would be allowed to continue studying, said an official who advises foreign students at one major university.

“For the most part, the students I’ve spoken to, their schools are permitting them to keep attending classes,” said New York immigration attorney Clay Greenberg, who is representing students with SEVIS terminations.

Over 200 students removed from SEVIS have won court orders temporarily barring the administration from taking action against them.

Virginia’s George Mason Univer­sity told students to contact advisers to discuss ways to complete coursework. The University of California is looking for ways for students to continue their education, said Rachel Zaentz, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2025