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SAN JUAN — In mid-February, a Haitian doctoral student with a visa at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) was stopped by men who jumped out of a white van and a gray car to question him about his immigration status and where he came from. He believes they were agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), although the federal agency says it has not intervened with students.

While this is the only known incident involving a student in Puerto Rico, a broader surge in immigration enforcement across the United States has sparked fear among international students. More than 1,800 international students had their legal status changed or visas revoked across the United States, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation. Many of the affected students filed immediate legal challenges against Homeland Security and the State Department, which led to ICE reversing the terminations and restoring student status for many.

One of these lawsuits was filed in the District of New Hampshire in mid-April on behalf of at least 112 international students and recent graduates across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. The federal class action lawsuit challenged the Trump administration’s sudden termination of student status and seeks to protect those students as they continue their education. The complaint argues the unlawful termination of these students’ F-1 status violated their due process rights, stating that the government must have valid grounds to terminate status, and that revoking an F-1 visa alone is not sufficient reason to terminate student status.

So far, this lawsuit is the only known federal case involving international students in Puerto Rico.

The Student Status Case

“They have already had the rug pulled out from underneath them. We need guarantees and assurances that this will not happen again, which is why we are going to continue to press for important relief for these students. They should not have to live in fear about what the government might do to them in the future,” Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, told The Latino Newsletter.

While visa revocations impact a person’s ability to return to the U.S. after international travel, termination of student status means a person’s permission to remain in the country has been revoked. That student status can be terminated if they fail to meet certain criteria, such as a student failing to maintain a full course load or committing certain violent crimes. None of these reasons apply to the people who would be represented in this case, per the complaint. 

ICE has previously said that visa revocations could mean terminating a person’s legal status in the U.S.

All of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit have had their student status reactivated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) by ICE, according to a May 6 filing. ICE said it has “no plans” to re-terminate the plaintiffs’ status “based solely” on the National Crime Information Center record that led to the initial termination, according to the same filing.

The UPR Community

No UPR students had their status changed in SEVIS, according to Luis Irizarry, director of the Directorate of International Affairs and Relations of the UPR’s Río Piedras campus. He said there are more than 550 international students within the university’s system that could be affected, most of them from Colombia. This figure includes students who are doing a semester abroad in Puerto Rico, or those getting a degree there, and graduates working a job related to their F-1 visa.

Due to the current political climate, many international students feel uncomfortable speaking publicly about their experiences. 

Although no students have suddenly decided to stop their studies and leave as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Irizarry said some international students have decided not to apply for Optional Practical Training —which allows F-1 visa holders to remain in the U.S. if their job relates to their field of study— and instead return to their home countries after graduating.

Puerto Rico was commonly seen as a safe haven for undocumented migrants, until a late-January immigration raid in Barrio Obrero, a neighborhood where many Dominicans call home, shattered that perception.

“This situation has put us all on alert,” Irizarry said. 

University Response

In the immediate aftermath of the January raid, the UPR held meetings with students and several consuls from their home countries where they could ask questions. Irizarry said that he tells students to keep their immigration documents on them in case they are ever stopped by immigration authorities.

A spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, which has led immigration enforcement on the archipelago, said the agency has not been intervening with students.

Separately, both Bissonnette and Irizarry agreed that the immediate pushback to the immigration moves by the Trump administration, like the student status lawsuit brought by the ACLU and several others, was a key reason why these revocations were rolled back.

“ There's a view among some in power right now that these people aren't us. They're being othered by this administration. I think one of our jobs here is to really convey in our advocacy and in speaking to folks, that these people are part of our communities,” Bissonnette said.

Although enforcement has not been as visible as during the January raid, federal immigration authorities have continued operations in Puerto Rico. They have primarily targeted worksites and neighborhoods like Barrio Obrero. In early May, federal agencies arrested 53 people working construction at a hotel in San Juan.

You can find the federal lawsuit on Courtlistener. 

About the Author

Carlos Berríos Polanco is a journalist from Puerto Rico covering climate, conflict, and the intersection of the two.

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What We’re Reading

SCOTUS Ruling Update: From NBC News, “The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to revoke special legal protections for thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, which could pave the way for them to be deported.”

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