The United States on Friday abruptly paused the cancellation of student visas issued to international students, according to reports.
Assistant US Attorney Joseph F. Carilli Jr. told a Washington DC court on Friday that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is developing a new system for review and revocations and until then, SEVIS status for plaintiffs across the country “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”, a leading US media outlet reported.
More than 1,500 student visas have been cancelled so far, according to news reports and it was not immediately clear what happens to those students who left the country after their visas were revoked.
The US has cancelled these student visas for students who were alleged to have participated in the protests that rocked university campuses against Israel’s invasion of Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack in 2023. Visas have also been cancelled for other reasons, breaking the law.
The Donald Trump administration has also targeted universities that, in the view of the administration, did not do enough to counter the protests and protect Jewish students.
Many students from India were among those whose visas were cancelled. A US lawyers’ association has said 50 per cent of more than 300 cancellations it reviewed were for students from India. No official data has been made publicly available of the cancellations.
The Friday development came amidst a string of lawsuits filed by and on behalf of students who have had their visas cancelled.
“It is not in the national interest of the United States — it’s not in our foreign policy interest, it’s not in our national security interest — to invite people onto our university campuses who are not just going to go there to study physics or engineering, but who are also going to go there to foment movements that support and excuse foreign terrorist organizations who are committed to the destruction of the United States and the killing and the raping and the kidnapping of innocent civilians, not just in Israel, but anywhere they can get their hands on them,” Secretary of state Marco Rubio has said.
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