2 weeks Ago By HANS BOYLE [email protected]
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save One of the 13 international students at Oregon State University who saw their visas revoked earlier this month has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The lawsuit comes as the administration has targeted international students at colleges nationwide with little notice or explanation, including at other Oregon universities . Oregon State University students marched in protest of the government revoking visas for 13 international students at the university.
One of the students is now suing the Trump administration. Aaron Ortega Gonzalez, an international OSU Ph.D.
student living in Corvallis, filed the lawsuit in the U.S District Court on Wednesday, April 16. He’s seeking to restore his F-1 student visa status and is represented by ACLU of Oregon, Innovation Law Lab and Nelson Smith LLP, a Portland-based immigration law firm.
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D. program at OSU and began his studies last summer at the College of Agricultural Sciences, working as a research assistant. He's expecting to complete program in 2029.
But according to the lawsuit, OSU informed Ortega Gonzalez in an April 8 email that the U.S government terminated his record in the database that tracks international students’ visa compliance. The U.
S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, according to the lawsuit, terminated his record on April 4, providing only this explanation: “individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their VISA revoked.” According to the lawsuit, Ortega Gonzalez has never been convicted of a crime and has been in compliance with the terms of his student visa.
In addition, checks with the online Oregon criminal database and other public databases indicate he has had no run-ins with the law here or in Texas. Still, Ortega Gonzalez has been notified due to the termination, he is “expected to depart the United States immediately,” according to a news release from the ACLU of Oregon. International students nationwide, including at Harvard and UCLA, have seen their visas suddenly revoked , prompting student lawsuits and leaving college officials grappling to respond.
According to lawsuit filed this week, as of Wednesday, more than 1,400 terminations have happened at nearly 100 colleges and universities, including in Oregon. “These terminations have upended the lives of students lawfully contributing to the innovation and prosperity of Oregon through their academic pursuits,” the lawsuit said. Some international students who’ve seen visas revoked had ties to pro-Palestinian protests that rocked campuses last year.
Oregon universities saw such demonstrations, including OSU, where students created an encampment on the Memorial Union Quad last May . Oregon State University students marched for an "Education Not Deportation" rally at campus on April 16. University spokesperson Rob Odom told Mid-Valley Media earlier this week he couldn’t comment further on questions related to the details and status of the 13 international students out of privacy concerns.
But prompted by the news, student groups at OSU, including those behind the encampment demonstration last spring, organized an “Education not Deportation” rally on Wednesday. Hundreds gathered for the march, which slowly weaved through campus. Students, many wearing masks and some waving Palestinian flags and picket signs, shouted chants against like “Stop the deportations, “and “Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine.
” The latter is a reference to Columbia University graduate student and activist Mahmoud Khalil who was detained by federal immigration officials earlier this spring, and who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. NBC reported last week that a Department of Homeland Security task force is scouring the social media posts of 1.5 million international students for potential grounds to revoke their visas.
Related stories: Trump administration revokes 13 student visas at Oregon State University Hans Boyle OSU gives deadline to protesters in pro-Palestinian encampment Hans Boyle More OSU coverage More Corvallis news Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Reporter Author email {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
