CINCINNATI — Some international students at both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University have had their legal status restored in a federal database following multiple lawsuits over sudden terminations in recent weeks.
The federal government announced Friday it is reversing the termination of legal status for some international students after students claimed their records were being terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS) database without the students or their schools being notified.
SEVIS is the database that tracks and monitors international students' visas. If certain requirements have not been met, the student's SEVIS record could be terminated by either the school or the government.
Recently, international students filed several court challenges after they learned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terminated their SEVIS records despite them seemingly meeting all requirements to maintain their visa.
One student involved in a lawsuit is UC doctoral student Jiarong Ouyang. In his lawsuit, Ouyang and three other plaintiffs claim their SEVIS records were terminated despite "maintaining academic standing and complying with their visa requirements."
A lawyer for the federal government read a statement in court saying ICE was restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in the last few weeks.
A copy of the statement provided to the Associated Press said in part, "ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated 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 spokesperson for UC said some of their international students whose statuses was terminated in SEVIS now have an active status. Xavier's spokesperson also confirmed that all students affected by the recent auto-termination have been restored to active status.
"The University remains committed to offering a supportive environment where international students can thrive, consistent with our mission to educate students intellectually, morally and spiritually," the university said in a statement.
It is unclear how many students have had their records restored, and neither UC nor Xavier noted how many students have still had their visas revoked.
