Donald Trump restores student visas after revoking 70-plus in Michigan

• Trump administration reverses course, restores legal status for thousands of international students
• More than 70 international students at Michigan colleges had been affected
• Michigan students who sued had run-ins with law enforcement, but none had been convicted or charged with crimes.

At least 70 international students at Michigan colleges and universities marked for possible deportation appeared to get a reprieve Friday, when federal officials announced plans to reverse termination of their legal status.

A government lawyer for the Trump administration explained the policy shift Friday in California, where a judge was hearing one of dozens of lawsuits filed on behalf of some of the 1,100 international students nationwide who had lost their legal status. 

Although a lawsuit filed on behalf of Michigan’s international students by the ACLU of Michigan wasn’t among the cases in which the reversal was announced, the decision is expected to apply to all students nationally who had lost their legal status in recent weeks.

A lawyer for the government read a statement in federal court in Oakland that said ICE was manually restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in recent weeks. A similar statement was read by a government attorney in a separate case in Washington on Friday, said lawyer Brian Green, who represents the plaintiff in that case. 

Green said that the government lawyer said it would apply to all students in the same situation, not just those who had filed lawsuits.

Related:

• Records: Feds use arrests, not convictions, to revoke Michigan student visas
• 70 international students face deportation in Michigan. Trump won't say why
• Trump administration strips legal residency of international students at CMU, U-M

The reversal comes in the wake of judges around the country ruling against the federal government, issuing temporary orders that restore the students' records in a federal database of international students maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The records had been suddenly terminated in recent weeks, often without the students or their schools being notified or clear indication as to the reasons those students were singled out for potential deportation.

Some students whose visas were canceled were told that their status was terminated as a result of a criminal records check.

In Michigan, at least four students who faced possible deportation had records of past run-ins with law enforcement or immigration officials, but none had been convicted or even charged with crimes.

Eleven of Michigan’s public universities confirmed to Bridge Michigan that current or former students had lost their legal status in recent weeks, including 22 students at the University of Michigan, 12 at Wayne State University and 12 at Michigan State University.

Of the students Michigan university officials identified by nationality, none came from predominantly white countries. Most were from China or countries in South Asia, Africa or the Middle East

While students affected by the revocations represent just a small fraction of the 38,123 international students enrolled in Michigan colleges and universities, advocates said they fear a chilling effect. Both colleges and companies rely heavily on international students and immigrant workers.

Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz confirmed “more than a dozen” students at his school had their legal status restored Friday morning. 

"We’re very happy about that, and because these distractions become a challenge. I mean our students are preparing for final exams next week, we want to celebrate the graduation next weekend,” Guskiewicz said. “These distractions are really problematic and so we were pleased to hear that news earlier.”

The reprieve could be temporary. 

The statement read by federal lawyers in court Friday said that “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS (the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) 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 re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination."

Michigan Democrat U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell praised the reversal. 

“This is the right decision to restore the visas of students that had been revoked suddenly and without explanation, many just weeks before they are supposed to graduate,” Dingell, who represents the University of Michigan region, said in a statement. 

“International students who are in the U.S. legally for school deserve to continue their education without the fear that their visa might be revoked without warning or reason.”