Trump administration to reverse termination of legal status of int'l students

The Trump administration said Friday that it will reverse the termination of the legal statuses of more than 1,200 international students amid legal challenges.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was in the process of manually restoring the statuses for individuals whose Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated in recent weeks, a government attorney told a federal court in Oakland, California.

A similar statement was made by a government lawyer during a separate hearing in Washington, D.C.

"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 (National Crime Information Center) finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," said a copy of the statement provided to media by Brian Green, attorney representing the plaintiffs.

SEVIS is the database that tracks compliance of international students with their visa requirements. NCIC, operated by the FBI, contains criminal records and other law enforcement data.

More than 1,200 international students have had their immigration statuses upended since late March, according to The Associated Press.

The mass termination had triggered a wave of lawsuits filed by students across the country, leading federal judges to issue temporary restraining orders to halt the practice.