US Judge halts Trump-era crackdown on international students, blocks mass visa terminations

Until the matter is settled, the government is not allowed to arrest, detain, or relocate students based only on their visa status, according to a nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland.

While a case against previous terminations is still pending, a federal court in California on Thursday prevented the Trump administration from eliminating the legal status of thousands of overseas students across the United States.

Until the matter is settled, the government is not allowed to detain, arrest, or relocate students based only on their visa status, according to a nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland. According to the Associated Press, students who are convicted of a severe felony with a jail sentence longer than a year may still be arrested for other legal infractions, and their visa status may still be withdrawn.

George W. Bush appointment Judge White made the unprecedented move of expanding protections beyond the original plaintiffs, stating that the government's actions had "wreaked havoc" on nonimmigrant students nationwide as well as on those who filed the lawsuit. His decision was made in response to a complaint filed by around two dozen foreign students whose immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) abruptly lost their legal status in early April.

Court documents show that this spring, almost 4,700 students had their authorization to study in the United States revoked with little prior notice or justification. The FBI-run database of suspects and people with arrest history, including those who were never charged or whose charges were dropped, was compared with the identities of the students, according to the Department of Homeland Security.