ICE Backtracks on Revoking More Than 1,200 Student Visas

The automatic revocations, some over possible criminal activity, had prompted dozens of lawsuits.

A visa stamp on a foreign passport in Los Angeles on June 6, 2020. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reversed course on a decision to automatically revoke more than 1,200 student visas, after the State Department said in March that it would use artificial intelligence to review foreign students’ records for criminal activity or arrests. 

Some of the students—and their universities—were told their immigration statuses were jeopardized after they were flagged for criminal activity in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. This prompted a flurry of lawsuits.