Federal judge blocks immigration authorities from revoking international students’ legal status

SAN FRANCISCO — A judge in California blocked the Trump administration Thursday from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending.

The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting, incarcerating or moving students elsewhere based on their legal status until the case is resolved. Students could still be arrested for other reasons and their legal status can still be revoked if they are convicted of a violent crime carrying a prison term of more than a year.

Most courts hearing these types of cases have granted protections to the person suing, but White said the government’s actions “wreaked havoc” not only on the lives of plaintiffs but other non-immigrants in the U.S. on student visas.

White’s order said that the government’s actions “reflect an instinct that has become prevalent in our society to effectuate change: move fast and break things.”

“That instinct must be checked when it conflicts with established principles of law,” the judge wrote. “If those charged with administering the laws are unwilling to do so, our system of checks and balances permits the judiciary to act.”

White, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, issued the nationwide injunction sought by attorneys for about two dozen students who sued after their legal status was abruptly terminated in early April by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Pasadena-based attorney Stacy Tolchin, who along with co-counsel is representing 20 students affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown, called the decision “fantastic,” adding that “it is incredibly appropriate to have nationwide relief.”

Yet, she noted that the ruling came just as the Trump administration announced it had taken away Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, making it a “weird day.”

“I don’t know that any [international] students are feeling safe,” Tolchin said, adding that she and her clients will be monitoring the Trump administration’s response to Thursday’s ruling. “We are going to wait and see what happens with this preliminary injunction.”

“I don’t think this is over yet,” she cautioned.

More than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring, with little notice or explanation, as part of President Trump’s crackdown on immigrants and foreign nationals. In court hearings, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through an FBI-run database that contains the names of suspects and people who have been arrested, even if the charges were dropped or they were never charged with a crime.

Some students left the U.S. rather than risk being deported to a third country.

Government lawyers say the administration is exercising its prerogative to administer the Immigration and Nationality Act. They say students do not need the court’s protections because ICE reinstated legal status and was mailing status reactivation letters to affected students.

But White found those actions insufficient. He said that the erroneous revocation remained in the students’ record, impacting their ability to obtain a new visa or change their non-immigrant status. Some students are still dealing with fallout from the previous terminations and there is no guarantee they won’t have their legal status revoked again on a whim.

White said that the order would provide the affected students “with a measure of stability and certainty that they will be able to continue their studies or their employment without the threat of re-termination hanging over their heads.”

He also chastised the administration for unveiling new policies or new actions in an apparent attempt to satisfy the courts’ concerns.

“It is unclear how this game of whack-a-mole will end unless Defendants are enjoined from skirting their own mandatory regulations,” White wrote.

Although the ruling offers Tolchin’s clients — and other affected foreign students — the ability to stay in the U.S., she said, they basically have little choice. That’s because their visas have been revoked, and if they left and tried to return, they would not be offered new ones.

“People have families they want to see and travel they want to do,” she said.

Har writes for the Associated Press. Miller is a Times staff writer.