Oklahoma Senator raises concerns over sudden visa revocations for international students

Oklahoma City Sen. Michael Brooks-Jimenez, who is also an immigration attorney, shared his concerns about the recent revocation of student visas. He spoke with News 9 about the potential impacts on international students and Oklahoma universities.

Q: What are your initial thoughts on visas being revoked?

"There's always been discretion as far as who visas are being issued to. However, I think it's a mistake when things become political. I'm worried that there are lots of people here that are doing the right thing, studying and are probably contributing to the state of Oklahoma, that are gonna have their visas unnecessarily revoked because of politics."

Q: Will this deter international students from coming to Oklahoma universities?

"I think it's going to be an intimidating factor for people who are just trying to go to school. For research institutions, I think that's going to hurt the United States in trying to get the best and brightest, regardless of where they come from, to be doing research here.I think that if someone can't be sure they're going to be able to come and study and complete their program and graduate with a degree that they're trying to get, I'm concerned they may look for other opportunities and other places to be able to study."

Q: What is the process if your visa is revoked?

"So if someone's visa is revoked, typically the only way to be able to fix that is to go back to their home country and be able to apply for a new visa, but there's really not an appeals process here to be able to keep that visa.”

Q: What are you hearing from students about the reasons behind their visa revocations?

“From the calls that we're getting, it's not explicit why their visas are being revoked.

We're trying to put two and two together based on the press releases coming from Homeland Security right now, but I think it's kind of a mystery what the actual strategy is."

Q: Will OU be impacted?

"If I were to speculate, I would say that probably they just haven't gotten to OU yet.

So I'm not trying to scare students at OU, but I suspect this is something that's gonna go forward with all institutions of higher learning eventually."

Q: What is your advice as an immigration attorney to students with a visa?

"They need to avoid any kind of encounters with law enforcement—whether it be something as small as a parking ticket or a traffic ticket or more serious charges. But the other thing is to be able to maintain their student status, to be able to make sure they're in school, enrolled with a full caseload, that they're going to school and passing their classes."

Q: Is there anything that can be done on the state level?

"Unfortunately, I think it's completely within the discretion of Homeland Security, which is a federal agency, to do enforcement actions like this. I think we can reach out to our Oklahoma delegation and explain the importance of having these students here on student visas and the impact it's making in the state of Oklahoma. But ultimately, it's Washington, D.C. It's discretionary, so if you're already outside the United States and you've had one visa revoked, the likelihood that you're going to be approved for another one is very, very remote.”

Q: How do new immigration policies affect students who are currently following the rules?

Right now there's a certain degree of chaos going on whenever it comes to immigrant issues. That includes legal permanent residents, it includes people on student visas, that includes people that are undocumented. So I understand there's a lot of disruption going on, and it's difficult to be able to advise people when so many of these policies are inconsistent.

It's difficult to be able to advise people when so many of these policies are inconsistent, that they change from day to day."

Q: Is there any pattern to the people who are being targeted?

"It's a variety of different groups. There are different ethnicities, depending on what the enforcement action is, that are being targeted. As far as the universities, it tends to be people from other places, of other ethnicities, that seem to be targeted.

All in all, it seems like if you're an immigrant or if you're here on a visa, that your status definitely is in jeopardy and you need to be very careful."

More Coverage:

Gov. Stitt responds to reports of international student visa revocation in Oklahoma

Student visas revoked for 4 UCO students 

Two OC Student Visas revoked, university confirms 

Colleges around the US say some international students’ visas are being revoked