'Has Trump not deported you guys yet?': Indian student’s elevator moment sums up US visa anxiety

A LinkedIn post by Sriram Mani, a business and economics candidate at Columbia Journalism School, has drawn attention to the growing anxiety among international students in the U.S. 

In his post, Mani recounted an unsettling interaction in his apartment building elevator near Columbia. A woman he recognized as a neighbour — someone he had only briefly interacted with in the past — turned to him and asked, “So, has Trump not deported you guys yet?”

Uncertain whether the remark was sarcastic or serious, Mani responded, “I wake up every day, wondering,” to which she replied, “Well, we’ll see,” before walking away. Reflecting on the moment, he wrote, “I’ve never felt more like an unwanted outsider in this country and city that otherwise has been wonderful.”

His experience comes at a time when the U.S. government is facing scrutiny over a sweeping and opaque crackdown on international students. Thousands of students recently found their legal status in the U.S. abruptly revoked, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed their records from SEVIS — the federal database that tracks foreign students.

The move followed a Department of Homeland Security initiative to run names of student visa holders through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. 

According to court filings, students were flagged for a wide range of reasons — from minor traffic violations to dropped charges — and at least 734 individuals were added to a spreadsheet that led to mass terminations from SEVIS within 24 hours.

One such student, Akshar Patel, whose charge had been dismissed in 2018, has taken legal action. In a hearing, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes criticised the government for an “utter lack of concern for individuals who have come into this country,” and noted that no one appeared to have reviewed the flagged records individually before issuing the terminations.

Federal officials later clarified that the SEVIS changes were intended as “investigative red flags” rather than outright cancellations. However, the confusion led some students to stop attending classes or leave the country, fearing deportation.