70 international students face deportation in Michigan. Trump won't say why

• More than 70 current or former students of Michigan universities have lost their legal right to live and study in the US, according to a Bridge survey
• The ACLU is challenging the Trump administration’s decision to revoke international students’ legal status
• Some fear a chilling effect on international student enrollment, with consequences for Michigan’s higher education system and economy

The Trump administration has so far revoked the legal status of more than 70 international students and recent graduates at Michigan’s universities as part of an unannounced and unexplained national push to force deportations.

That includes 22 students at the University of Michigan, 12 at Wayne State University and 12 at Michigan State University, which disclosed its count for the first time on Friday as part of a Bridge Michigan survey of schools.

To date, 10 of Michigan’s 15 public universities say they’ve confirmed current or former students have lost their legal status in the week since Central Michigan University first announced “several” students had been affected. 

That's a small fraction of the 38,123 international students enrolled in Michigan, but education and workforce advocates said they fear a chilling effect that could ripple through the state’s higher education institutions and its major companies, which rely heavily on international students and immigrant workers.

“You've heard of win, win, win (a popular Trump refrain). This is lose, lose, lose,” said Dan Hurley, chief executive officer of the Michigan Association of State Universities. “It's a loss for students, it's a loss for institutions. It's a loss for the Michigan economy.”

Officials with the US Department of Homeland Security have not responded to multiple inquiries from Bridge Michigan about the agency’s rationale for terminating students’ legal status.

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Contending the Trump administration has failed to legally justify its actions, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of two U-M students and two Wayne State students.

The plaintiffs allege that the government violated the students’ right to due process by terminating their status without notice or an opportunity to respond, and failed to meet legal grounds for terminating their status. 

They’re seeking a preliminary injunction to restore their status and protect them from deportation while the lawsuit proceeds. 

“By cruelly targeting these students with this kind of unlawful action, the administration is showing that the real point here is to sow division and terrorize immigrant communities, not to enforce immigration law,” ACLU lawyer Phil Mayor told Bridge Michigan.

Officials with the ACLU said it wasn’t clear which students have lost visas in addition to being stripped of their F-1 student status. The end result is the same: They’ve lost their legal right to be in the US.

‘We do it every day’

Bridge Michigan contacted all 15 Michigan public universities Friday to inquire how many students have lost their legal right to study in the US. 

Thirteen responded, reporting more than 70 current or former students affected. That includes:

• 22 at University of Michigan,
• 12 at Michigan State University, 
• 12 at Wayne State University
• 6 at U-M Dearborn
• 3 at U-M Flint 
• 2 at Eastern Michigan University
• 4 at Grand Valley State University
• 4 at Oakland University
• 4 at Saginaw Valley State University
• “Several” at Central Michigan University 

Officials at Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan universities said no students had been affected.  Michigan Tech did not disclose whether any students had been affected. Western Michigan University did not respond. 

Nationally, more than 800 international students at more than 150 colleges and universities have had their legal status changed by the federal government, according to a tally by Inside Higher Ed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters recently that the government has revoked hundreds of visas nationally so far, and is particularly targeting people engaged in pro-Palestinian activism.

Mayor, the ACLU attorney, said none of the four plaintiffs in the Michigan lawsuit have been involved in political activism, nor do they have criminal records. 

Instead, the lawsuit posits that impacted students in Michigan and other states were "indiscriminately" targeted because of past encounters with law enforcement or immigration officials, "no matter how innocuous" and even if the "encounter did not involve unlawful conduct."

One of the plaintiffs got a speeding ticket, Mayor said. Another was turned away several years ago when he attempted to enter the US on a visitor’s visa.

The Michigan plaintiffs “are all students who are working hard to complete their studies, contribute to the economy and contribute to innovation in America's universities,” Mayor said. “They’re supposed to be the type of person who even the administration claims to welcome.”

The lawsuit identifies them as:

• Chinmay Deore, a Wayne State University undergraduate computer science major from India
• Yogesh Joshi, a Wayne State anatomy and cell biology Ph.D. student from Nepal
• Xiangyun Bu, a University of Michigan master’s student in mechanical engineering from China
• and Qiuyi Yang, a Chinese Ph.D. student in the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability

Students, schools scramble to respond

Officials at various Michigan universities have scrambled in recent days to notify students who have suddenly lost their legal status.

Central Michigan University said it is urging students who now may face deportation to “immediately seek the advice of an immigration attorney.” President Neil MacKinnon and Provost Paula Lancaster said in a Friday email that faculty can offer remote work accommodations for affected students.

Of the students university officials identified by nationality, none came from predominantly white countries. Most were from China or countries in South Asia, Africa or the Middle East.

The four affected students at Oakland University are from South Sudan, China, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, said Rosemary Max, Oakland’s executive director of International Education. 

The Trump administration recently revoked the visas of all South Sudanese passport holders after accusing the South Sudanese government of “taking advantage of the United States.” 

The other Oakland students had “minor charges” that were dismissed by a judge, Max said. “None of these students are even remotely a danger to our country, our state or our community.”

In the ACLU case, the Michigan students learned of their changed immigration status when university officials checked a federal database of international students and discovered their records were suddenly missing. Mayor said federal officials still have not notified his clients of their changed legal status.

Federal regulations have established the grounds upon which DHS can revoke a student’s status, “and none of those processes appear to have been followed here,” Mayor said. 

The lawsuit in Michigan is one of several nationally challenging the Trump administration’s wave of student status terminations. In New Hampshire, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the administration.

Trump has previously signaled support for international students even while promising to deport other immigrant groups. 

During comments on a tech industry podcast last June, he vowed to give green cards to all international students who graduate from a US college or university, calling it “so sad” when people with skills needed by US companies are unable to remain in the country.

“What I will do is, you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he said.

Concerns about a ripple effect

University and workforce development officials said Friday they fear the administration’s efforts to revoke the legal status of international students will lead to declines in enrollment and workforce recruitment.

During Trump’s first term — which included efforts to ramp up deportations but little direct targeting of student visa holders — new international student enrollment fell by 7% nationally after his first year in office.

“At this point, we'd probably be happy to see only a 7%, $100 million loss in Michigan” this time around, said Steve Tobocman, executive director of Global Detroit, a nonprofit focused on boosting Metro Detroit’s economy by attracting immigrants.

International students have long made up a significant part of university student bodies across the country. 

That’s particularly true in Michigan, where international immigration has stabilized the state’s population even while deaths outpace births and waves of residents choose to move out-of-state.

Plus, fewer Michigan high school graduates are enrolling in college post pandemic. Universities have filled the resulting enrollment and budget gaps by aggressively recruiting students from abroad.

“They pay full freight-plus, and help subsidize the education for Michigan resident students,” Hurley said.

For example, Michigan State University estimates one year of education costs $35,588 for an in-state student. For an international first-year student, the cost is $66,507.

There are 38,123 international students enrolled in Michigan’s colleges and universities, contributing a collective $1.5 billion annually to the state’s economy through their tuition dollars, rent, groceries and other spending, according to the NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Tobocman called those graduates “absolutely critical” to the state’s economy, both for jobs that require no secondary education, such as farm and factory works, and for more specialized jobs such as automotive engineering, medicine and chemistry.