Trump Admin Restores All Revoked Student Visas After Pushback From Courts

The Trump administration has restored the revoked visas of all foreign students, Politico Senior legal affairs reported Kyle Cheney reported on Friday.

In a series of publications on X, the journalist detailed the reversal follows intense pushbacks from courts across the country. He detailed that he counted 103 lawsuits filed in the past 20 days, and judges had issued 50 restraining orders requiring the administration to reverse course.

Some of the students were apparently targeted for their political activities, particularly pro-Palestine protests the administration deemed a danger to national security. Others, however, were apparently flagged for minor infractions such as traffic violations.

Their records were terminated from SEVIS, a federal database that tracked their status, leading several universities and colleges to disenroll affected students. According to Inside Higher Ed, as of April 18, more than 240 colleges and universities had identified over 1,550 international students and recent graduates affected by visa revocations. Most were first alerted to the issue after checking the SEVIS database, which has been updated unilaterally by federal authorities.

However, even before the reversal a recent ruling from a Michigan judge determined that ICE does not have legal authority to terminate a student's immigration status, even if their SEVIS record is marked as "terminated."

"Under pressure from ICE, schools have been advising students they are out of status after SEVIS record termination, and in many cases disenrolling them as a result," said Nathan Yaffe, an attorney representing international students in deportation cases. "Now ICE has submitted sworn declarations that SEVIS record termination has no legal effect on the student whatsoever."

The Intercept reported this week that DHS acknowledged in court filings that SEVIS terminations do not equate to a loss of lawful nonimmigrant status.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the face of revocations, saying the administration would continue such actions if foreign students engaged in "destabilizing acts."

Originally published on Latin Times