ICE is reversing termination of legal status for international students around U.S., lawyers say

The federal government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the U.S. after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, government lawyers said Friday.

The affected students’ records in a federal student database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks, often without the students or their schools being notified. Judges around the country had already issued orders temporarily restoring the students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.

More than 1,200 students nationwide had suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class.

On Friday, universities were scrambling to make sense of the situation. At UCLA, the administration was seeking to confirm that former and current students’ records in the federal database, known as SEVIS, had been reactivated.

“We recognize this situation is causing great uncertainty and we want to make sure Bruins know they are not alone,” said Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications. “As we work to provide clarity to our students, we remain committed to supporting our international Bruins’ ability to work, teach, learn, and thrive at UCLA.”

A spokesperson for University of California Office of the President said it is “encouraged” by the actions and will “continue to do all we can to support our international students and faculty.”

Rafael Jaime, the president of UAW 4811, which represents more than 48,000 academic workers in the UC system, called the reversal a “victory for international workers who overcame Trump’s fear tactics to speak out against these illegal attacks on their rights.”

“Today, in the face of data purges, funding freezes and attacks on higher education, our solidarity remains our strength,” said Jaime, a doctoral student at UCLA.

Government says it will restore student status

News of the reversal surfaced in federal court in Oakland on Friday, during a hearing for one student’s lawsuit.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Elizabeth Kurlan read a statement that said ICE was restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in recent weeks. A similar statement was read by a government attorney in a separate case in Washington, said lawyer Brian Green, who represents the plaintiff in that lawsuit.

Green provided the Associated Press with a copy of the statement that the government lawyer emailed to him.

It said: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be reactivated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the [National Crime Information Center] finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”

Green said that the government lawyer explained it would apply to all students in the same situation, not just those who had filed lawsuits.

SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. It is linked to the Department of Homeland Security and used by schools to detail whether international students are enrolled in classes and abiding by work and other restrictions.

In a statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that it “maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons, such as if the plaintiff fails to maintain his or her non-immigrant 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.”

But Stacy Tolchin, a Pasadena-based attorney who is representing several Southern California students who had their visas and enrollment statuses revoked, said that there “was no legal basis for terminating the SEVIS records” in the first place.

“The law is clear that an international student may continue in student status even after the revocation of a visa,” she said.

Legal fights may not be over

Green, who is involved in lawsuits on behalf of several dozen students, said his cases only sought restoration of the student status and that he would be withdrawing them as a result of the statement Friday from ICE.

But lawyers in the Oakland case are seeking a nationwide order from the court prohibiting the government from arresting or incarcerating students, transferring them to places outside their district or preventing them from continuing work or studies.

Pam Johann, a government lawyer, said it was premature to consider anything like that given that ICE was in the process of reactivating student status records and developing a policy.

“We should take a pause while ICE is implementing this change that plaintiffs are seeking right now, on its own,” she said.

But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White asked her to humor the court and clarify ICE’s statement.

“It seems like with this administration there’s a new world order every single day,” he said. “It’s like whack-a-mole.”

Tolchin also expressed concern over the confusion permeating the situation.

“It is unclear if the students are safe to attend school, work, and are safe from detention and deportation,” Tolchin said. “This whole process has shown a reckless impulsivity from the administration that has been unlawful and was simply a blatant attack on both immigrants and institutions of higher learning in the United States.”

Visa revocations and student status terminations caused confusion

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges. But many students whose status was terminated said they did not fall under those categories or had only minor infractions on their record.

A survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research found that that even the visa revocations for students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests are not popular. About half of U.S. adults oppose this policy, and only 3 in 10 are in support. Among college educated adults, 6 in 10 strongly oppose, compared with 4 in 10 who aren’t college graduates.

In lawsuits in several states, students argued they were denied due process. Many were told that their status was terminated as a result of a criminal records check or that their visa had been revoked.

International students and their schools were caught off guard by the terminations of the students’ records. Many of the terminations were discovered when school officials were doing routine checks of the international student database or when they checked specifically after hearing about other terminations.

At least 1,220 students at 187 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records.

Har and Brumback write for the Associated Press; Miller and Kaleem for The Times. Christopher L. Keller, Makiya Seminera, Annie Ma and Linley Sanders of the Associated Press also contributed to this story.