MUMBAI: International students will be able to breathe easy, at least for now, as the Trump administration appears to have backtracked on the abrupt, unlawful SEVIS termination of hundreds of international students.
Immigration attorneys are reporting that since Thursday evening, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records have been quietly reinstated for a large number of international students across the US, including those students who are not involved in lawsuits filed to challenge termination of their records.
According to attorneys, news is pouring in from the international student community and from educational institutions of a terminated status suddenly becoming ‘active’. In many cases, Designated School Officers (DSOs) have informed students of the reactivation of their SEVIS records.
For instance, ‘The Daily Californian’, an independent, student-run newspaper which covers the UC Berkeley campus and Berkeley city, has reported: “At UC Berkeley, 12 students have had their status restored today after 23 were terminated since April 4.”
SEVIS is the web-based information system that the US agencies use to track and monitor international students during their duration of study. On abrupt termination of SEVIS – an exercise that began in mid-March, affected students were informed by DSOs to self-deport, resulting in several lawsuits being filed.
Initially – as of Thursday, educational institutes were unaware for the reasons for reactivation. However, immigration attorneys state that some institutions have now been informed that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. “Until such a policy is issued the SEVIS records will remain active/will be reactivated. ICE will not modify the SEVIS records solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS terminations…,” states the communication. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a central database for crime-related information in the US, maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It provides access to virtually all law enforcement agencies nationwide and enables rapid exchange of information.
The New York Times reports that “The Trump administration on Friday abruptly walked back its cancellation of more than 1,500 student visas held by international students, announcing a dramatic shift by ICE during a court hearing in Washington. Joseph F. Carilli, a Justice Department lawyer, said that immigration officials had begun work on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students and that until the process was complete, agencies would not make additional changes or further revocations.” The paper also quotes him as saying that the government was prepared to file the policy change across other lawsuits, potentially providing some reprieve for students who had sued to have their visas reinstated and remain in the country through graduation ceremonies in the spring.
The grounds on which action was taken against international students for F-1 visa revocation and/or SEVIS termination were arbitrary. Based on the recent statement by ICE, in many cases it was presumably based on NCIC data. As reported by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and other advocacy groups, not all instances of termination related to campus activism. Some related to minor infractions with police such as not wearing a seatbelt, tickets for illegal parking, or speeding tickets or even instances of domestic violence where even the victim is taken into custody. In other cases, the international students had no run-in with the police at all.
According to immigration attorneys, during the recent court hearings US agencies have not been able to offer any tangible explanation for the abrupt termination of SEVIS records, except to counter that it does not result in irreparable harm. With Indian students being the largest cohort, they were the most impacted by the abrupt SEVIS terminations. Hundreds of students have filed lawsuits with various district courts challenging their SEVIS termination – which made them vulnerable to devastating immigration outcomes such as detention and deportation, as well as irreparable harm. Many others are lining up to file individual lawsuits or join class action suits.
Courts such as Georgia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin have granted temporary restraining orders. As reported by TOI recently, pursuant to an order of a district court (Northern District of Georgia) SEVIS records of all 133 students who were party to a lawsuit were reinstated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) retroactive to March 31.
Jonathan Wasden, an immigration attorney, said, “We are seeing many SEVIS status being reactivated in cases of our clients who had obtained temporary restraining orders. It seems that the DHS is slowly working its way out of the hole it dug for itself. We are also hearing that DHS has been reactivating SEVIS in cases where these international students have not sued. The heavy lift may be done here and the agency may be backing off on this issue.”
Some immigration attorneys are asking international students to approach their DSOs to check their SEVIS records, before planning any further course of action. On the other hand, due to the uncertainty involved, several students have decided to proceed with their plans of a lawsuit.
IMMPact Litigation a joint venture of four law firms, is all set to file a class action suit in the coming week, as many questions still remain unanswered – including those relating to unlawful presence, OPT unemployment accrual (while the students could not work), or whether revoked visas will be reinstated again.
