‘Scared they’ll barge in and take me’: Panic grips Indian students in US over visa revocations

Roshan Kumar expected to be mildly anxious in the final stages of his PhD, like every other doctoral student. But he was not prepared for the panic he is currently experiencing as an international student in the United States.

After the Donald Trump administration took charge in late January, university campuses have been rife with visa revocations, status terminations and deportations of foreign students.

Kumar has been constantly checking his email, expecting his visa to be terminated. “The last I checked, which was two days ago, my status was the same – valid,” he said. “Yet, I’m extremely anxious.”

Riya, another PhD student, said she is so terrified that she keeps checking to see if her door is locked. “I’m scared they’ll suddenly barge in and take me,” she said. “Others have said that they see ICE everywhere on the streets too.”

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is the American federal agency that enforces immigration law and controls border security.

Over the past few weeks, ICE agents have abruptly detained foreign students as well as immigrants and asylum-seekers. In March, ICE agents surrounded Turkish student Rumeysa Öztürk on the street outside her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, and dragged her into a car. Öztürk, a doctoral scholar at Tufts University, had written...

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