Move reassures students, educators, and families
The US administration said that it is restoring the previously terminated legal status of hundreds of international students currently in the U.S. while it develops a new policy framework.
The decision was announced during a court hearing before a federal judge in Boston who is presiding over a challenge by one of the many international students across the country who is suing over visa terminations. Shortly before the hearing, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor said he had received an email from a government lawyer alerting him to a change in policy.
According to that email, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was now “developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS [Student and Exchange Visitor Information System] record terminations.” Until that policy is issued, the SEVIS records for similarly situated plaintiffs will remain active or will be restored, the email said.
The email said ICE maintains the authority to terminate students’ SEVIS records for other reasons, including if they engage in other unlawful activity that would render them deportable.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement said the agency, which oversees ICE, did not reverse course on visa revocations but restored SEVIS access “for people who had not had their visa revoked.”
Since President Trump took office in January, records for more than 4,700 students (out of 1.1 million international students) have been removed from SEVIS, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
The database monitors compliance with visa terms and records foreign students’ addresses, progress toward graduation and other information. To remain in the database, student visa holders have to obey conditions like limits on employment and avoiding illegal activity. The administration has said in court filings that it could end students’ eligibility to be in the U.S. if they, for example, turn up in a criminal history search.
However, hundreds of students have filed lawsuits saying their records were terminated based on charges that had been dismissed or for minor offenses when legally their status could only be revoked if they were convicted of violent crimes.
Over 200 students removed from SEVIS have won court orders temporarily barring the administration from taking actions against them, according to Reuters. Throughout, U.S. universities have been supporting and advising students on how to protect their status and continue with their studies.
Since March, ICE has deleted more than 4,700 names from the SEVIS database of visa holders, often citing criminal activity, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Of those, almost half were Indian students, many of them graduates in work experience known as Optional Practical Training, based on an AILA study of 327 cases.
