In a recent Viral update, a Japanese PhD student, Suguru Onda, who is a student at Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Utah, is having to face deportation after his student visa was cancelled earlier this month.
The revocation took place due to his criminal record, which contains two speeding tickets and a dismissed fishing citation from 2019. The fishing incident took place during a church group trip, where Onda, as the organiser, was held responsible for surpassing the fishing license limit, despite he did not catch any fish himself.
Onda, an ambitious computer scientist, voiced his frustration over the lack of prior warning regarding his visa status change.
Suguru Onda received an email from BYU’s international student office informing him of the revocation, which quoted a criminal records check as the reason.
His attorney, Adam Crayk, has suspicions that the viral decision may have been influenced by artificial intelligence systems used to monitor visa compliance.
Legal Concerns and AI Involvement
Onda’s visa revocation notice provided minimal details, stating, “Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked, service record has been terminated.”
His attorney, Adam Crayk, believes that automated systems may have played a role in the decision-making process. He speculates that AI algorithms were used to scan criminal records, flagging Onda’s dismissed fishing citation as a potential violation.
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Crayk stated, “Whether it’s tech, bot, algorithm, AI, they have a technology… there’s close to a million student visas, and so for one person to monitor that, it’s fairly difficult.”
Impact on Onda’s Academic Future
Details which have been circulated after the viral incident show that Suguru Onda is one year away from finishing his PhD in computer science at BYU. However, because of visa revocation, his academic future is now uncertain. He and his family, including his wife and five children, are preparing for a possible return to Japan while exploring legal options to challenge the decision.
BYU has been supportive, but Onda feels helpless about the situation. “Like nobody knows the answer, nobody knows what to do, what’s going to happen”, he stated.
Legal Action and Broader Implications
Additionally, a class-action lawsuit is being considered to address the broader issue of student visa revocations.
Reports indicate that at least 800 student visas have been revoked nationwide in recent weeks due to automated criminal record checks. This viral incident has sparked concerns among immigration experts, who claim that retroactive database sweeps are unfairly targeting international students.
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