Trump pauses crackdown on international students, including many in Michigan
The Trump administration is pausing its crackdown on international students, saying now that it won't terminate their student status just because their name appeared in an FBI database.
The reversal is a win for international students across the country, including many in Michigan, who have feared deportation and in some cases, self-deported to avoid arrest. Many have sued to stop the practice.
Foreign students who study at American universities must obtain a student visa issued by the State Department. They also must maintain what's known as student status, by attending class regularly and meeting other criteria.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency polices the status requirement, collecting data through an online portal called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
In recent weeks, ICE has been scanning the FBI's database of law enforcement records to identify foreign students who've had run-ins with the law. In some cases, the students were convicted of crimes, but in others, an arrest that didn't warrant charges was enough to catch the attention of ICE.
ICE would then notify the student or the university that it was terminating the student's status in SEVIS, a move that jeopardizes their student visa and could subject them to deportation.
In a lawsuit brought by an international student studying in Massachusetts, a government lawyer said Friday that ICE leaders had recently informed him they were changing their approach.
"ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said in a written statement to the court. "Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiffs in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if they are not currently active."
Sauter also said that ICE would no longer terminate students' status based solely on a hit in the FBI database, though it reserves the right to terminate it for other reasons.
If ICE applies that practice nationwide, it could help students in Michigan, who've been targeted.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, whose district includes the University of Michigan, applauded the change.
'This is the right decision to restore the visas of students that had been revoked suddenly and without explanation, many just weeks before they are supposed to graduate," she said in a statement.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."
Students across Michigan have been snared in the crackdown including some who weren't charged with crimes.
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump pauses crackdown on international students
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