Washington DC: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reversing recent decisions that abruptly stripped international students of their legal status, according to a federal court disclosure.
A government attorney informed a court in Oakland that ICE has begun manually reactivating the legal records of students whose SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) status was recently terminated. The move comes after growing legal pressure and widespread confusion among universities.
In a related development, Brian Green, an attorney representing affected students in a separate case in Washington, shared an official statement from ICE with the Associated Press. According to the document, “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.”
The statement adds that ICE will halt any changes to students’ records based solely on data from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a criminal database run by the FBI. Many students were previously told their SEVIS records had been deactivated following issues detected through NCIC.Colleges and universities across the country reported learning of the terminations only after noticing changes in the database or after hearing similar cases from other institutions. In several instances, students were unaware their status had been revoked until school officials reached out.
Green confirmed that ICE’s forthcoming policy will apply broadly. “The government made it clear in court that the reinstatement process is not limited to those who filed lawsuits,” he said.