U.S. District Court judge Jeffrey White issued an injunction to block the Trump Administration from being able to terminate foreign students’ visas across the country during ongoing legal disputes.
Two months ago, the Trump Administration began sweeping terminations of foreign students’ SEVIS records (used to monitor their status while in the US) based on criminal records checks. The terminations were immediately met with protests. Many students fought back, saying that the terminations were based on charges which were either dropped or were not serious enough to justify such an extreme response. Hundreds of lawsuits across the country resulted in almost 5,000 SEVIS record reinstatements, and many cases are still ongoing.
District Court Judge Jeffrey White released a 21-page injunction on Thursday that will protect current international students from being arrested due to their immigration status or from being transferred to a different jurisdiction while these lawsuits continue. The injunction will provide temporary relief to international students in the United States who are unsure of the security of their status and are anxiously awaiting the courts’ decisions.
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