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A master’s student at UC Berkeley is one of four Chinese international students challenging the Trump administration’s sudden termination of her visa and legal status in the U.S. The student, Zhuoer Chen, was expected to graduate with a master’s degree in architecture in May, according to the , which argues the U.
S. Department of Homeland Security violated students’ constitutional rights when it abruptly canceled students’ visas without giving them a direct explanation or recourse to appeal the decision. The complaint, filed in the U.
S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, is asking for an injunction that would stop the termination of international students’ records and restore the four Chinese international students’ legal status. Chen, who came to the U.
S. from China in 2017 to study civil engineering at the University of Southern California, is one of 23 UC Berkeley students who have recently had their student records terminated by the federal government. Nationally, at least 901 students, many from India and China, have had either their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks.
Students have filed lawsuits in several states, arguing they were denied due process. At UC Berkeley, Chen’s work focused on “reconciling urban design with wildlife habitat preservation,” according to court documents. The Oakland resident had been offered a full-time job post graduation at the architectural firm where she was interning.
Losing her legal status meant her pending request for an F-1 extension through “optional practical training” — a program that allows recent grads to obtain work experience in the U.S. — would “likely” be denied, according to her testimony.
Of the at least 23 UC Berkeley students impacted, five are undergraduate students, 10 are graduate students, and eight were in the U.S. as part of “optional practical training,” according to Cal spokesperson Janet Gilmore, who noted that numbers she shared were current as of Friday, April 11.
Around 242,000 foreigners in the U.S. are employed through “optional practical training.
” Chen wrote in a declaration filed in court that she believes the termination means that she needs to immediately leave the U.S. — something that “will completely ruin my education and life that I have built here.
” Some of the students suing Trump administration had been arrested but none had been charged, complaint says According to court records, Chen received a notice from UC Berkeley’s International Office on April 8 that her record with Student and Exchange Visitor Information System — a database that keeps track of international students on a visa — had been terminated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
She was not given a clear reason for the termination or an opportunity to contest the decision, according to her testimony. The email from UC Berkeley’s International Office listed the termination reason as “OTHER– Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has their visa revoked,” according to the complaint. Chen was arrested in 2022 for an alleged physical altercation with a friend that did not result in any charges, according to court records.
The Daily Cal, UC Berkeley’s student newspaper, has reported that , such as fingerprints, to target students. The three other plaintiffs are Mengcheng Yu, a master’s student at Carnegie Mellon University, Jiarong Ouyang, a doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati and Gexi Guo, who earned a master’s degree from Columbia in 2022 and resides in New York City. “Some of the affected students were arrested but never charged or convicted of any offense; others received only minor traffic citations years ago,” the complaint reads.
“Many have no record whatsoever.” Chen and her attorney did not respond to Berkeleyside’s interview requests. A Homeland Security spokesperson wrote in an unsigned email that visa revocation determinations are made by the State Department and that the process is “nothing new” and “longstanding protocol.
” The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. UC Berkeley student says she’s been left bewildered, distressed and afraid of deportation Chen submitted a two-page declaration spelling out what she has gone through the past few weeks. “Having lived and studied in the United States for many years, the sudden revocation of my legal status has left me bewildered about how to manage and secure my personal belongings,” Chen’s testimony reads.
“This unexpected upheaval not only jeopardizes my academic and professional future but also imposes profound psychological distress on me and my family, who are far away and concerned about my personal safety here,” Chen writes in her testimony. “I deeply fear that the government will soon start deporting me and I will never be able to return to the States again.” Chen writes in her testimony that she was worried about her two adopted cats, one of which requires ongoing medical care and is “deeply concerned about his ability to endure a potentially stressful international flight should I be forced to leave the country.
” Zhu, Chen’s attorney, the status termination has prevented her from working or attending classes. The Daily Cal, UC Berkeley’s student newspaper, has reported that a was allowed to continue attending classes and finish their finals remotely. Judges elsewhere have granted temporary restraining orders to restore students’ legal statuses Gilmore, the Cal spokesperson, did not respond to specific questions about the support the university is offering students and directed Berkeleyside to an that was shared campuswide on April 7 that encourages affected students to refer to the UC Berkeley’s International Office’s webpage and seek legal counsel for guidance.
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges. But many of the impacted students say they don’t fall under those categories. In New Hampshire, a federal judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to restore the status of a Ph.
D. student at Dartmouth College, Xiaotian Liu. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Wisconsin issued a similar order, ruling the government could not take steps to detain or revoke the visa of a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student.
Two graduate students at Montana State University, Bozeman, on Tuesday were granted a temporary restraining order by a federal judge in Montana, restoring their terminated legal status and shielding them from efforts to remove them from the U.S. The system to track enrollment and movements of international students came under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after 9/11, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators.
She said recent developments have left students fearful of how quickly they can be on the wrong side of enforcement. “You don’t need more than a small number to create fear,” Aw said. “There’s no clarity of what are the reasons and how far the reach of this is.
” Her group says as many as 1,300 students nationwide have lost visas or had their status terminated, based on reports from colleges. " " indicates required fields Send a private note to the editors. See an error that needs correcting? Have a tip, question or suggestion? Drop us a line.
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