*Names changed to protect their identity.
On April 4, Lina*, a foreign citizen and recent graduate working legally in the U.S., got a call from her former university. Her student visa status had been terminated. Lina had been working on the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, availing herself of a path afforded to F-1 student visa holders to pursue work opportunities in the U.S. for up to a period of three years post graduation. That day, the school official who had called notified her of an update. They had spotted a termination notice in her record on the Department of Homeland Security’s Student & Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database. “Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their VISA revoked. SEVIS record has been terminated,” her record read.
Lina had an arrest on her record from more than a decade ago. Back in 2013, she was arrested after a verbal argument with a friend. She was released soon after her arrest, she told Drop Site, and the case was dismissed in court. “I never had any conviction,” Lina said in an interview with Drop Site. “I didn’t do anything wrong. And all of a sudden, the country of free spirit is against me? For what? I still don’t know.”
