U.S. restores revoked visas for Rutgers students
By: Mary Ann Kourth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... International students at Rutgers University whose visas were terminated without warning by the Trump administration had their visas recently reinstated just as abruptly as they were revoked.
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The Justice Department announced its decision to restore visas to thousands of international students on university campuses across the nation on April 25, [2025] two weeks after ti began revoking them.
..... "Records for all affected currently registered international students at Rutgers have been restored," said Dory Devlin, a spokesperson for Rutgers University.
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Universities first learned about the revocations around April 10 [2025] through changes to the SEVIS federal database, which tracks students' and exchange visitors' immigration status.
..... The termination sparked more than 100 lawsuits, including one filed by some of the affected Rutgers students with legal representation from the ACLU-NJ.
..... Six Rutgers students sued Kristi Noem secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other officials at these federal agencies.
..... Fourteen Rutgers students, almost all from India or China, have now had their visas restored.
..... The April 25 [2025] announcement, reported by USA Today, came a day after five of the Rutgers students and a recent graduate sued the Trump administration for terminating their visas without explanation, a move that jeopardized their future and their legal status in the United States, and would have effectively ended their academic careers and their research.
..... NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, has tallied roughly 1,400 visa revocations.
..... At least 1,700 students at more than 250 colleges and universities were affected, said Inside Higher Ed, an Online publication.