ICE Reverses Decision to Deny International Student Visas Following Legal Challenges

The federal government is reversing its decision to deny international student visas following legal challenges from students around the country. According to a government lawyer, ICE is manually restoring the status of students whose records were terminated in recent weeks.

Judges across the nation had already issued temporary orders restoring the students' records in a federal database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The records had been suddenly terminated without notice to the students or their schools, often leaving them unaware of their status.

A government lawyer read a statement in federal court in Oakland that said ICE is developing a policy for SEVIS record terminations. Until this policy is issued, the SEVIS records of affected students will remain active and ICE will not modify the records solely based on a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) finding.

The statement continued: "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 re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination."

A lawyer representing one of the students, Brian Green, confirmed that the government's statement applies to all students in similar situations, not just those who have filed lawsuits.

The terminated records were part of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS) database, which tracks international students' compliance with their visa status. Many students were told their status was terminated due to a criminal record check or that their visa had been revoked.