The Trump administration granted relief through restoring visas for hundreds of foreign students whose legal status was abruptly terminated. This decision has calmed fear and chaos spread throughout more than 280 U.S. universities. This decision comes on the heels of over 100 lawsuits brought by these affected students. The majority of these students even lived with the constant fear of deportation or other aggressive immigration enforcement measures.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously indicated that the administration intended to terminate the status of individuals whose actions were deemed counter to U.S. interests. As a consequence, around 1,800 students lost their safety net. They were placed in danger of losing their status by having their SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records deleted. This loss not only threatened their ability to learn, but put them at risk of being detained.
The sudden end had a profound impact on students. People who participated in local political protests or had low-level criminal charges, such as driving-related offenses, were disproportionately impacted. A majority of these students, afraid of being detained and then deported, opted to depart the country instead.
Attorneys working on behalf of these students have verified that recent issuance notices indicate their clients’ SEVIS records have been restored. Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, stated, “What I’m hearing is that this is a reprieve for many students who have had their status reinstated in SEVIS.”
Even with their statuses restored, heavy obstacles still exist. Elizabeth Kurlan highlighted potential risks for students stating, “If a student fails to maintain his or her nonimmigrant status after the record is reactivated, or engages in other unlawful activity that would render him or her removable from the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
The Trump administration just took an important step in the opposite direction. With this decision we intend to address the sense of fear that students all over the country are feeling. The COVID-19 pandemic left many universities grappling with how best to serve their international student communities. This challenge emerged during the turbulence caused by the other policy disaster.
As NBC News reported, Kurlan recently testified on the issue of record restoration in front of a federal court in California. He explained how necessary these changes are for the students impacted by them.
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