By Michelle Hackman and Joseph Pisani

The Trump administration is abruptly reversing course and restoring the legal status of thousands of international students whose status was suddenly terminated without warning or explanation this month, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.

Attorneys representing students in several lawsuits have also been told of the policy shift by government attorneys.

"It's already starting to happen all over the country," said Charles Kuck, an attorney in Atlanta who brought a lawsuit representing 133 students against the government.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which runs the student visa program, started ending the legal status of international students earlier this month without any warning or explanation, creating widespread confusion and panic on college campuses across the country.

Once students' legal status is terminated, they must leave the country in a matter of weeks -- or risk arrest and deportation.

Many of the affected students filed lawsuits against Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In many cases, judges sided with the students and temporarily restored their legal right to study in the country.

Students with revoked visas had to cancel marriage plans, miss classes and worry if they will be snatched off the streets, according to their lawsuits.

"I just immediately went into hiding," said Anjan Roy, a 23-year-old masters student at Missouri State University in Springfield, who received an email last month saying his legal status was revoked and that he could either go back to Bangladesh, where he is from, or be potentially detained and sent to another country.

Roy moved in with a nearby family member, turned his phone off, missed two weeks of classes and tried to stay indoors. Even walking the dog worried him: "Every time I saw an SUV or a tinted window car," he said, "I was just so freaked out that ICE was going to pick me up."

Roy, who said he doesn't know why he was targeted, joined a class-action suit. He returned to class Thursday after a federal judge in Atlanta temporarily restored the legal status for him and the more than 100 other students who were part of the lawsuit.

Many of those affected have had some sort of arrest or criminal record, including minor charges filed against them that were subsequently dropped. Those charges include urinating in public and shoplifting.

Though the government has walked back its initial position, ICE officials are working on a policy that will dictate which students could be subject to terminations in the future, government officials have told attorneys representing the students.

The raft of visa terminations are separate from the administration's efforts to arrest and deport international students who participated in Gaza-related protests.

Write to Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com and Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2025 14:43 ET (18:43 GMT)

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