Ruiyan Wang

The federal government has reactivated the immigration status records of all four Yale students whose records were previously terminated, according to a Yale administrator.

Ozan Say, the director of Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars, or OISS, told the News on April 7 that the office had learned that the records of two international students had been terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, a federal database of students on non-immigrant visas. The records of two more students were terminated on April 10. 

On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it would restore the SEVIS records of thousands of international students, thereby reinstating their legal right to study in the U.S. 

“I can confirm that as of this afternoon, two of the four Yale community members impacted by SEVIS terminations have been returned to active status,” Say wrote to the News on Friday.

On Saturday evening, Say wrote to the News that the records of the two remaining students had also been reinstated.

While visa status and SEVIS record status are not the same, international students on F-1 visas who have had their SEVIS records terminated are effectively unable to extend their legal status to study in the U.S. and may be forced to leave the country. According to a Department of Homeland Security webpage, when a student’s status in SEVIS has been terminated, federal immigration law enforcement agents “may investigate to confirm the departure of the student” from the U.S.

Say did not specify whether the four international Yale students whose terminated SEVIS statuses he tracked included students employed under optional practical training, or OPT, a temporary work authorization that allows international students with F-1 visas to work for up to 12 months in their major area of study after completing their degrees. Many of the individuals whose SEVIS statuses were terminated in April — including two students in New Haven involved in an anonymous lawsuit against the Trump administration — are graduates employed through OPT.

Since the government’s Friday announcement that it would restore SEVIS records, federal immigration officials have warned that students who have had their records reactivated may still face the potential termination of their records and visas in the future.

“We have not reversed course on a single visa revocation,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS, wrote to the News on Friday. “What we did is restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”

The status reactivations come after two Yale students, along with two students at the University of Connecticut, filed a class action lawsuit on Thursday, accusing the Department of Homeland Security of “unlawfully terminating” their SEVIS records. 

The plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, argued that the lack of “meaningful explanation” for the terminations violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires a “lawful basis” for any action by a government agency.

Yale has partnered with immigration attorneys who can provide short-term legal assistance to international students, according to the OISS website.

Jaeha Jang contributed reporting.