CN
25 Apr 2025

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reversed course Friday morning after it recently deleted the immigration records of hundreds of international students from a database, telling a federal judge it will not enforce the terminations and will work to manually restore the deleted records.

ICE's attorneys told U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White, a George W. Bush appointee, that they learned about the development moments before the hearing began.

"ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for service record termination. Until such a policy is issued, the service records for plaintiffs in the Northern District of California cases and all other similarly situated plaintiffs will remain active, or shall be reactivated if not currently active, and ICE will not modify the records solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent service record termination," attorney Elizabeth Kurlan, who represented the agency, told the judge.

Four Chinese nationals attending university in the United States sued ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, claiming the agencies violated their constitutional rights by abruptly canceling their student visas without explanation or a way to appeal the decision.

"Without notice, explanation, or any form of due process, ICE terminated the student status of individuals who have done nothing more than maintaining academic standing and complying with their visa requirements," the students say in their lawsuit.

The four students, who attend universities like Carnegie Mellon, University of California, Berkeley and University of Cincinnati, are asking the court to restore their immigration records and F-1 visa statuses immediately, as well as those of affected foreign students nationwide.

The students say their records were deleted from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or "SEVIS," a web-based system used by the Department of Homeland Security to track and monitor information about nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors in the United States.

In early April 2025, ICE initiated an unprecedented wave of terminations against international students with F-1 visas across the country, which the lawsuit estimates affected hundreds, if not thousands, of scholars.

The plaintiffs say terminating their records could cause them irreparable harm, as those affected are required to leave the country immediately.

"They have to abruptly suspend their studies (one of the plaintiffs is a month away from graduation), end housing arrangements or leases, lose employment authorization, face virtually insurmountable bars when re-entering the U.S. if they depart, and if they have any dependents, their dependents' status is also terminated," the students argue in their lawsuit.

While some students in the lawsuit admit they have been arrested, they maintain they have never been convicted of a crime and have complied with the terms of their visas.

The students received some hope earlier this month when a judge previously assigned to the case issued a temporary restraining order, but it only prevented ICE from acting on their visa status for another two weeks.

In the long term, plaintiffs are asking the court for an injunction preventing further SEVIS terminations until the court can decide their fate.

The students claim their position is well-supported, given a recent decision in New Hampshire where a judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing a SEVIS termination against a doctoral student at Dartmouth College.

More than 1,024 students at 160 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since March, according to The Associated Press.

Source: Courthouse News Service