Lawsuits in limbo as Trump administration reverses course on student visas

TACOMA — Confusion reigned during a court hearing Friday in Tacoma for a University of Washington international student who sued the U.S. government for suddenly revoking her lawful status.

The hearing in the federal courthouse came hours after international students in Washington and nationally began seeing their legal status reinstated after it was revoked by the Trump administration in recent weeks.

The government faced a deluge of lawsuits in federal court from international students who alleged the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arbitrarily and illegally terminated their lawful status records from the federal database known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. Here and across the country, federal judges broadly agreed with students’ arguments, ordering the Trump administration reinstate visa statuses.

“What’s happening with this case now?” Judge David Estudillo asked attorneys Friday after acknowledging recent news reports of reinstated visas.

Assistant United States Attorney Whitney Passmore said ICE is “developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations.“

“Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for the plaintiff, and other similarly situated plaintiffs, will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active,” Passmore said.

Passmore said recent terminations were based on findings from the National Crime Information Center databases but she declined to provide more information to reporters.

In court filings, many students described learning their visas were revoked because of prior run-ins with law enforcement, even when they were not charged with a crime, charges were dropped or they were acquitted.

In the case of Friday’s hearing, the student was cited for a misdemeanor for shoplifting in 2024.

At Friday’s hearing, Passmore said she “believes this moots the case entirely” and Hilary Han, an attorney for the student, said the lawsuit will “probably” be withdrawn if SEVIS records for her and other students are reinstated.

Han said he was still concerned that the record would state the student had been out-of-status at one point, which could have negative implications later.

The student’s record remained terminated as of Friday morning, Han said.

For now, the case is ongoing. Estudillo granted the student’s motion for a temporary restraining order requiring the government restore the student’s record.

UW spokesperson Victor Balta said that the situation is “rapidly changing,” and that many of the records of students and recent graduates had been reinstated as of Friday morning.

“We are hopeful the remaining records will also be restored soon,” he said in a statement. “The UW will work (with) students and recent graduates individually to understand what actions they have already taken and to discuss options for how to proceed with their studies and immigration status.”

One of two students at Central Washington University who had their legal status revoked was reinstated on Thursday. And as of Friday afternoon, a Gonzaga University student and one of five Seattle University students and recent graduates had their statuses restored.

Federal law states a student can fall out of legal status if they are convicted of a crime of violence for which a sentence of more than one year may be imposed — a condition that does not appear to apply to any of the Washington students who filed lawsuits.

Generally, removal from the database effectively terminates legal status in the U.S. The federal government has argued in court filings that it has authority over the database, and said in a response to one case that it’s “speculative” whether terminations in SEVIS could lead to detainment or removal proceedings.

A SEVIS record is typically terminated if a student drops below the necessary course load without approval or does unauthorized work. It is usually the university, not the government, that terminates the record. Students can then apply for reinstatement.

These terminations came from the federal government rather than the students’ institutions, and instead of the government telling universities when it has terminated a student record, university staff are often finding out on their own by checking the database. That is also how universities learned of the reinstatements this week.

In a statement on social media, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, said the reversals are a “clear admission that these actions against students were never about national security, but rather about using immigration enforcement as a weapon to restrict due process, stifle political dissent, and attack legal immigration.”

Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said in a statement: “This is what winning in the courts looks like.”

Lack of communication seemed to permeate court proceedings and statements from officials across the country Friday as news trickled in slowly about the reversals. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday evening they did not have information about the Department of Homeland Security reinstating some students’ lawful status. Lawyers appeared to learn about the reinstatements from their individual clients or media reports and rumors swirled on social media among anxious and confused students.

The next hearings in the cases are slated for May 7.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jessica Fu and Claire Withycombe contributed to this report.