US judge blocks Trump administration from revoking foreign students' legal status

SACRAMENTO, the United States -- A US federal judge has issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration from revoking the legal status of foreign students studying and working in the country.

In a nationwide injunction issued Thursday, US District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California ruled that the government cannot revoke international students' legal status without conducting individualized reviews and following existing federal regulations.

The order also barred the administration from arresting or detaining foreign-born students based solely on their immigration status.

The administration of Donald Trump terminated the records of thousands of foreign nationals in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS) database in April, claiming it was aimed at cracking down on foreign students with criminal records.

The SEVIS database is maintained by the US Department of Homeland Security to track and manage information of foreign students and exchange visitors. Cancellation of records in the database effectively eliminates international students' legal status in the country, exposing them to potential arrest, detention and deportation.

While many international students have successfully challenged the Trump administration's actions individually to secure their right to remain in the United States, Thursday's injunction marked the first to provide nationwide relief for affected students.

In his ruling, White said that the Trump administration had "wreaked havoc" on the lives of the plaintiffs as well as other international students.

The injunction also barred the administration from transferring any of the plaintiffs in ongoing cases to jurisdictions outside their residences, or from reversing any reinstatement of their records.

In a separate development on Thursday, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, effectively barring the institution from enrolling new international students.

Harvard filed a lawsuit on Friday to challenge the decision. A federal judge in Massachusetts granted a temporary restraining order, allowing international students to continue their enrollment at the university.