The Trump administration is restoring visas for hundreds of foreign students who had their legal status abruptly terminated stoking panic among many who feared immediate deportation, government officials have confirmed.
US Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Kurlan told a federal court that immigration officials are now working on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students.
The announcement follows more than 100 lawsuits filed by students who were abruptly stripped of their legal right to study in US universities.
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An estimated 1,800 students and 280 universities have been impacted, according to a tally from Inside Higher Ed.
Many affected students appeared to have participated in political protests or have had previous criminal charges, such as driving infractions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said the administration would terminate status for people whose actions the administration believes run counter to US interests.
The policy has caused widespread fear and confusion across hundreds of US universities, with some students opting to leave the country pre-emptively rather than face possible detention or deportation.
The Justice Department told the court on Friday that records would be restored in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS), which tracks foreign students’ compliance with their visas.
But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) still maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons.
For example, “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”, Kurlan told a federal court in California, NBC News reported.
Attorneys for the students have argued that the revocations violate the students’ legal rights, and the fear of detention has prevented them from fulfilling their studies.
Attorneys representing students across the country said that their clients had seen their records restored in recent days, according to NBC News.
Losing their SEVIS records left students vulnerable to immigration actions – and possible detention and deportation, according to Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School.
“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.”
The Justice Department and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
