The Trump administration has reversed its decision to terminate the visas of hundreds of foreign students, restoring their legal status after weeks of uncertainty and fear of deportation.
The move follows a wave of legal challenges, with over 100 lawsuits filed by students who had been suddenly stripped of their right to remain in the United States and continue their studies at American universities.
The Justice Department announced the reversal in a federal court, as attorney Elizabeth Kurlan said immigration authorities are now developing a new system for reviewing and terminating student visas.
According to a tally by Inside Higher Ed, the controversial terminations have affected an estimated 1,800 students and 280 universities.
Many of the students reportedly had prior criminal infractions or had taken part in political protests, raising concerns over the criteria used by the government in cancelling their visa status.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier stated that the administration would terminate the status of individuals whose actions it deemed contrary to US interests.
The sudden cancellations had created widespread confusion across campuses, with some students choosing to leave the country voluntarily rather than risk being detained or deported.
The Department of Justice said on Friday that affected records would now be restored in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the database used to track international student visa compliance.
However, Kurlan warned the court that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) still retains the power to revoke SEVIS records under other circumstances.
“If a student fails to maintain his or her nonimmigrant status after the record is reactivated, or engages in other unlawful activity that would render him or her removable from the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” she told a federal court in California, NBC News reported.
Lawyers representing the students have argued that the mass revocations violated their clients’ legal rights and disrupted their ability to study, with the fear of detention hanging over them.
According to NBC News, attorneys noted that many students have seen their records reinstated in recent days.
Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said the move has brought relief to many, but uncertainty remains.
“What I’m hearing is that this is a reprieve for many students who have had their status reinstated in SEVIS,” Prof Mukherjee said.
“But this doesn’t mean this ordeal is over for the students who have had their records terminated.”
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