The Forum Daily | Thursday, April 10, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**The sudden revoking of hundreds of student visas could pose a threat for the professional workers pipeline to the H-1B visa program, reports Andrew Kreighbaum of Bloomberg Law [link removed].  

The cancelation of F-1 visas in many cases without a clear reason, even if the holders were never convicted of a crime, is causing confusion among students and their institutions. Some professionals who are currently working under the F-1 visa’s Optional Practical Training (OPT) will now be immediately unable to work. For fields like science, tech and engineering, this could be detrimental as for many professionals OPT facilitates transition to H-1B visas, Kreighbaum analyzes. 

"This is about way more than tuition dollars," said Chris Glass, a professor at Boston College’s School of Education and Human Development. "This is about the capacity of the U.S. to continue being a leader in science and for universities to be able to serve industries." 

Dozens of universities across the country have disclosed revocations. Texas A&M University, an institution known for its STEM programs, confirmed this week that 15 international students had their visas revoked, three of them were working through their OPT, reports Jessica Priest of The Texas Tribune [link removed]. 

"Some of the best and brightest international students may go elsewhere if they can’t count on their status being safe because they are randomly revoked," said immigration attorney, Faye Kolly.  

Andy Rose and Caroll Alvarado of CNN [link removed] analyze the concerns among scholars given the increased revocations. 

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s assistant VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Marcela Aguirre, Jillian Clark, Soledad Gassó Parker and Broc Murphy. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected].   

**RULINGS** — Two federal judges in Texas and New York blocked temporarily the Trump administration’s ability to deport Venezuelan migrants in their districts using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, report Luc Cohen and Ted Hesson of Reuters [link removed]. This comes after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a nationwide prohibition on such deportations. The order from the federal judge in Texas will remain through April 23 and the one from the federal judge in New York through April 22.  

**PRIVATE FACILITIES** — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested [link removed] private contractors to submit proposals for detention facilities and other immigration enforcement services worth up to $45 billion over the next two years, report Allison McCann, Alexandra Berzon and Hamed Aleaziz of The New York Times [link removed]. Facilities under this contract do not have to meet ICE detention standards and can independently regulate many services, including public access to individuals’ information, the Times notes. 

**BLOCKED** – A federal judge in Florida recently blocked a state law that imposes harsh criminal penalties – including prison sentences – on undocumented people who enter the state, reports Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global [link removed]. The ruling argues immigration enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal government and halts the law until April 18. The court’s decision affirms advocates’ stance that the bill is "not only unconstitutional, it’s inhumane," said Paul Chavez, director of litigation and advocacy at Americans for Immigration Justice. 

**HOPE** — In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the community celebrated 24 new U.S. citizens during their naturalization ceremony on Tuesday, report Josh Sanders and Brad Nau of CBS Philadelphia [link removed]. Individuals from 16 different countries recited the oath while remembering the difficult journey it took to get there, CBS notes. After the ceremony, Cynthia Wong, one of the new Americans, said: "I think this is a new start … and I believe and I trust that our kids will have a better future here." 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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