The US President Donald Trump-led administration has restored the student visa registrations of thousands of foreign students studying in the USA. The restoration order will be implemented for students who had minor and often dismissed legal infractions, reports Politico.
On Friday, the Justice Department announced the wholesale reversal in the federal court after weeks of scrutiny by courts and dozens of restraining orders issued by judges. The administration informed in the morning that courts and lawyers for the students that it was changing its posture. According to CNN, it did so as judges were getting ready to put ICE officials on the stand to question them about the administration’s actions.
The termination earlier this month from the federal database sparked over 100 lawsuits, with judges in more than 50 of the cases — spanning at least 23 states — ordering the administration to temporarily undo the actions.
CNN reported quoting the statement from the Justice Department that the student records in question – known as SEVIS records – were being reinstated for the students who have sued the administration over the terminations. The statement said that “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations.”
The cases had revealed that ICE was justifying the records terminations for students who had an alleged “criminal history,” but included students who were arrested and never charged, or who had their charges dismissed.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled the student visas of dozens of foreigners he contends were disrupting US foreign policy through pro-Palestinian activism. In a more recent, larger wave of visa cancellations, students who had minor brushes with the law and were also impacted by the termination of their profiles in the SEVIS database appeared to be targeted.