An immigration attorney told The Spectrum Wednesday afternoon that, out of the 13 current and former UB students whose visas were canceled by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, one was previously arrested for driving while ability impaired (DWAI), one was convicted on a parking violation and one was arrested for a violation which the attorney did not disclose to The Spectrum.
Michael Berger declined to say how many of the 13 students he is representing, but confirmed that they are not being represented as a group.
Berger said none of them have been convicted of any crime — considered grounds for deportation according to the U.S. Immigration Act — and called the students’ visa revocations “bullshit.”
“Parking tickets are not crimes, they’re violations,” Berger said. “Driving while impaired is not a crime, it’s also a violation.”
None of Berger’s students have been deported, but all are no longer attending classes and are not officially affiliated with the university. He says he has instructed the students to apply for reinstatement at the university, though he doesn’t believe the university would support it.
“That’s the only right they have, and that way they have some status while they’re still here,” Berger said. “The university would not support the application for reinstatement, but they will give it to them and they will process it.”
A university spokesperson said that the restatement applications are reviewed on an individual basis and immigration authorities need to approve the students’ visas for the university to proceed. If students fulfill the eligibility criteria outlined by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency and the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, UB’s International Student Services office will issue a reinstatement.
The students are scared, Berger says.
“Some of them have 3 or 4 years in [school],” Berger said. “If they go home without their degrees, what happens to them and their families? The trauma that these kids are going through is tremendous.”
Editor's note - April 16, 11:05 p.m: This article has been updated to include a more detailed response from a university spokesperson on reinstatements.
Ricardo Castillo contributed to the reporting of this article.
Rodrigo Feijao is the senior sports editor and can be reached at rodrigo.feijao@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
