The United States on Friday reversed its decision to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students studying in the country, Politico reported.

The revocation of the student visas was paused until the Donald Trump administration develops a policy for potentially cancelling the study permits in the future, Reuters reported.

Washington’s decision came after scrutiny and several restraining orders by judges who said that mass termination of student visas from a federal database was illegal, according to Politico.

Records of hundreds of students had been removed from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a federal database used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to track international students.

However, judges in several states had issued interim orders to reinstate the student records in the system.

More than 1,200 students had lost their legal status or had their visas revoked, the Associated Press reported. This left them at risk of being deported. Many of them said that they had only minor offences on their record.

On Friday, the Department of Justice announced its decision during a court hearing in Boston. The federal judge was hearing a challenge filed by one of the international students suing Washington for revoking their visas.

On April 17, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said that Indians constituted 50% of the 327 cases in which the US had revoked student visas since the Trump administration took charge in January.

The Department of State and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was “aggressively targeting international students, including those without a history of protest, for visa revocation, termination of their status, and removal”, the association had said at the time.

It pointed out that the US was screening social media posts of student visa holders using Artificial Intelligence under the “catch and revoke” programme.

As Scroll reported on Friday, the revocation of visas had caused panic for Indian students in the US. Some Indian students have been reconsidering their decision to continue studying or working in the country.

New Delhi had said that the Indian embassy in Washington and consulates were “in touch with the students to provide support”.

“We are aware that several Indian students have received communication from the US Government regarding their F-1 visa status, which happens to be the student visa,” said Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “We are looking into the matter.”

On March 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington may have already revoked more than 300 visas.

After India, Chinese students (14%) constituted the largest group who had their visas revoked, noted the policy brief. Students from South Korea, Nepal and Bangladesh were the others who had been significantly impacted.

About half of the visa revocations impacted those who were on Optional Practical Training, which means they had graduated and were employed in the US.

Of these cases, only two students had reported a history of engaging in political protests. “While 86% reported some level of interaction with the police, 33% had their case dismissed, were never charged, or were never prosecuted,” the American Immigration Lawyers Association said.

Two of the students who had reported interaction with the police are complainants in domestic violence cases. Some of the others had speeding tickets and parking-related violations.

The student visa revocations came at a time when the Trump administration had undertaken a wider crackdown on undocumented immigration.

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