To stem the uproar that follows massive deportation of foreign students, the United States of America has paused the deactivation of foreign students’ files, giving them reprieve from the moves to send them back to their countries.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on Friday, stated that aside pausing the student deactivation files, it would also restore the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

For the record, the Federal Government has suspended the activities of hundreds of international students for the past three weeks by abruptly terminating their immigration statuses in the database.

According to Federal data, there were about 1.1 million foreign students in the U.S. during the 2023/2024 academic year. SEVIS are used by colleges and universities as proof of a student’s legal status to remain in the country.

Many of the foreign students had consequently lost their jobs while others chose to self-deport themselves back to their countries willingly rather than facing deportation by the American Government.

This was sequel to President Donald Trump’s indisposition to the protest by some foreign students, who involved in pro-Palestinian campus protest, openly declaring their stance against antisemitism and supported Hamas last month.

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, shortly after immigration officers detained the students that protested the Israeli war in Gaza, noted that the Federal officials had revoked several visas and not hesitate to revoke more.

Some of the victims, who refused to self-deport, kicked against the government decision as over 100 lawsuits were litigated on behalf of the international students and judges in several rulings stressed that the basis for terminating the student files was meritless.

While the American Immigration Lawyers Association revealed that at least 4,700 foreign students have got their SEVIS records terminated since January 20, 2025 that President Trump was sworn in, and by his Executive Orders.

However, the DHS spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, affirmed that all visa revocations are still in effect though there are indications that the U.S. Government is backing down due to the backlash from the general public.

“We have not reversed course on a single visa revocations. What we did is to restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked,” McLaughlin said.

One of the lawyers representing the affected students, Michael Piston, noted that his clients and others affected by the revocation, had started having their SEVIS restored since Thursday evening.

Piston, alongside other attorneys, added that the government lawyers couldn’t explain the legal basis used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to remove the foreign students from SEVIS.

According to him, “I think the government realizes now that their position is entirely legally untenable.”