Trump Administration Reverses Course on Student Visa Cancellations

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The Trump administration on Friday abruptly walked back its cancellation of more than 1,500 student visas held by international students, announcing a dramatic shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a court hearing in Washington.

Joseph F. Carilli, a Justice Department lawyer, said that immigration officials had begun work on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students and that, until the process was complete, agencies would not make additional changes or further revocations.

The announcement followed a wave of individual lawsuits filed by students who have said they were notified that their legal right to study in the United States was rescinded, often with minimal explanation. In some cases, students had minor documented traffic violations or other infractions. But in other cases, there appeared to be no obvious cause for the revocations.

It was not clear how many student visa holders had left the country; students usually have at least a few weeks before they have to leave. But the Trump administration had stoked panic among students who found themselves under threat of detention and deportation with minimal explanation. A handful of students, including a graduate student at Cornell, have voluntarily left the country after abandoning their legal fight.

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