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ST. LOUIS — Local immigration attorneys say federal authorities are revoking international students’ visas and legal statuses for minor offenses such as traffic tickets — or seemingly for no reason at all.

Foreign students at nearly every higher education institution in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ area have seen their legal statuses changed in the past few weeks as President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on illegal immigration.

A commonality among some affected students is they had brushes with the law at some point. But local attorneys said their clients were singled out for low-level offenses such as speeding tickets or municipal violations.

In the past, such offenses would not have canceled a student’s visa or legal status, the attorneys said.

“These are not axe murderers,� , principal attorney at MLO Law, said. “These are just young people being silly.�

One lawyer said he’s spoken with students who had DUIs or shoplifting charges on their records.

But many students, attorneys said, have had no interaction with law enforcement.

“It’s unprecedented,� attorney of CoxEsq PC said. “It also seems mean because it’s usually without evidence or basis.�

Beginning in late March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began sweeping terminations of primarily F-1 student visas, often without prior notification to students or their schools.

Attorneys who spoke with the Post-Dispatch said their offices have been flooded with calls from international students in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ panicking about what to do next.

Some students have already left the country out of fear they’ll be detained, of Hacking Immigration Law said.

“This is nothing more than the right-wing MAGA people trying to frame immigrants as criminals,� Hacking said.

Representatives of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½-area universities have said over two dozen students have seen either their visa status revoked, or their records terminated in the federal system used to track international students, called the , or SEVIS.

Visas, according to attorneys, are the ticket international students need to come into the U.S., but students can remain here if their visas are revoked. But they cannot return if they leave.

Deleting SEVIS records puts students in a much more difficult bind. Doing so removes a student’s legal status to stay in the U.S., and a student without SEVIS records can be removed from the country.

Foreigners subject to removal proceedings are usually sent a notice to appear in immigration court on a certain date, but lawyers said affected students have not received notices.

“The process to revoke a student’s status is to put them into deportation proceedings,� Hacking said. “You can’t just email them and tell them to get the f- — out. That’s not how it works, but that’s what they’re trying.�

Usually, SEVIS terminations occur if a student isn’t going to school full-time, they perform unauthorized work, or if they get suspended or expelled, .

, senior counsel at Husch Blackwell, which represents higher education institutions, said schools are checking SEVIS records multiple times daily so they can notify students as soon as possible if their legal statuses change.

“This is coming out of the blue,� Baldwin said. “A lot of them don’t have what would be considered a deportable offense, or a violation of their status under the law as it is written.�

International student graduates in the U.S. on “optional practical training,� or OPT, have also been affected. The former students remained in the U.S. to work in their fields of study.

On Monday, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville said six former graduate students on OPT had seen their visas revoked.

Students can file for reinstatement through the , but it’s a lengthy process that could take up to 18 months, Baldwin said.

International students represent a large number of student bodies at area colleges and universities.

At Washington University, they made up nearly a quarter of the spring enrollment. At SLU, nearly of students come from outside of the U.S.

Webster University officials have credited international students for its recent enrollment growth. As of November, Webster hosted 3,542 students from 65 other countries at its three locations in the U.S., officials .

International students typically pay full price for tuition, in effect subsidizing higher education for U.S.-born students who rarely pay full sticker price.

Suzanne Sierra, executive director of the , said international students are also integral to the region’s economic vitality.

They spend money here, she said, and they fill key workforce gaps after graduation.

“When that pipeline is disrupted, the consequences are felt across multiple sectors — from higher education to business and innovation,� Sierra said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.