Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
ICE terminated the records of about 4,700 international students, then restored them after more than 100 lawsuits
Termination of SEVIS records often cited minor police contacts found in an FBI database. The State Department revoked visas in the same weeks.
What happened
Beginning around April 4, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement terminated the SEVIS records of several thousand international students and recent graduates. SEVIS is the federal database that governs their legal status. ICE often cited minor police contacts found in an FBI criminal database, such as driving without a license, underage drinking or a fishing violation. The State Department revoked visas at the same time.
Inside Higher Ed identified more than 1,840 affected students at more than 280 institutions. A government official later put the total near 4,700. Some students were detained, and some left the country.
Students sued in more than 100 cases, and judges granted temporary restraining orders in at least 50. On April 25, 2025, a Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge in Washington that ICE was restoring the records nationwide while it wrote a new termination policy. ICE would no longer terminate records solely on the basis of an NCIC hit.
Who benefited
The administration demonstrated that student status could be revoked at scale without notice. The ICE policy memo that followed gave it a written basis to terminate records in the future. Secretary of State Marco Rubio used the visa revocations publicly as proof of a crackdown on campus activism.
Who wanted something
Rubio said he had revoked hundreds of visas and would keep doing so. Homeland Security leadership under Kristi Noem ran the SEVIS terminations through ICE. The campaign fit the administration’s effort to deport students connected to protest. The retreat came from Justice Department lawyers facing dozens of adverse rulings.
Who lost out
Several thousand students and recent graduates lost work authorization, stopped attending class, or left the United States on their colleges’ advice before the reversal. Universities were not told when records changed. Even restored students carry a status gap that can affect future immigration filings.
Why it matters
A single database flag was used to strip legal status from thousands of people with no hearing. The government backed down only after judges began ruling against it in dozens of courtrooms at once. The reversal came with a new, lower standard for future terminations.
Sources Inside Higher EdCourtListener (Zheng v. Lyons, D.D.C.) (primary)