The U.S. government announced on April 25 that it is restoring legal status for international students across the country. This decision follows the Trump administration’s recent revocations of student visas that led to student protests, lawsuits and pressure from universities and federal judges.
Many students reported that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) neglected to inform them and their schools of the termination of their student records, which are maintained by ICE in a federal database of international students known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
Brian Green, a lawyer for more than 50 of the dozens of student-filed lawsuits against the government, announced the reversal at a court hearing in Washington. Green provided The Associated Press with a copy of the statement that a government lawyer emailed to him.
“ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active, and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination,” the statement said.
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a criminal records database where criminal justice agencies can search for criminal histories among other information.
In the weeks leading up to the reversal, more than 1,200 students nationwide had their visas revoked or lost their legal status. Many either had minor infractions or were unsure of why they were being targeted.
Asserting that the Trump administration had illegally stripped them of their legal status, many students have filed lawsuits against the government. Numerous judges issued temporary restraining orders compelling the government to restore affected students’ visa records and momentarily blocking students’ deportation from the country.
The termination of these visa registrations incited uncertainty for thousands of students who feared deportation and the loss of their legal immigration status. According to CNN, a number of students who decided to sue the government said their schools prevented them from continuing their classes or research.
Within the University of California (UC) system, more than three dozen student visas were terminated, including 12 at UC Berkeley, 23 at UC Davis and 12 at UC Santa Barbara. UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman sent an emailed statement on April 7 recognizing the ongoing terminations but did not mention a specific number of students or alumni affected by the changes to student visas.
Since the walk-back on the cancellations, more than 100 visas have been restored for students in California who had them terminated in April. UC Davis announced that the visas for all the affected 23 international students and recent graduates were reinstated, while UC Santa Barbara reported that 11 students had their legal status restored. At UC Berkeley, 12 out of 23 individuals had their records restored. UC Irvine has not released any information regarding the current status of affected students.
New University reached out to Gillman for an updated statement and was redirected by Assistant Vice Chancellor Michael Uhlenkamp to Gillman’s initial message from April 7 and statements from the University of California and UC President Michael Drake.
New University also contacted the UCI International Center and did not receive a response.
Immigration policy updates can be followed on the center’s website. Students can also track federal updates on the University of California website.
Zoë Chang is a Features Intern for the spring 2025 quarter. She can be reached at zoeac@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Jaheem Conley.