The Trump administration announced Friday it's reinstating student visas it had initially terminated, affecting thousands of foreign exchange students who have been fighting to stay in the U.S. and complete their degrees.
A San Diego student was among those who sued the Department of Homeland Security, claiming their visa was unlawfully terminated.
Court documents show the San Diego student had a run-in with the law a couple of years ago. While the Trump administration has stated it will deport immigrants with a criminal history, this student was never charged or convicted of their alleged crime.
Despite this, because there was a record of the incident, their visa was terminated. The student is not alone in this situation.
"What we saw here was a mass termination of service records for international students of what we believe to be more than 4,000 people," said immigration attorney Stacy Tolchin.
Tolchin is representing "SD Student Doe #1" in a lawsuit filed last week.
The lawsuit focuses on what's known as the student's SEVIS record. SEVIS, an acronym for Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, comes with a student's F-1 visa after they're approved to come to the U.S.
"So SEVIS is the system where you've got authorization to attend your school. And your status is terminated if there's a failure to maintain status," said Tolchin.
The online record system holds students accountable so they don't violate the terms of having an F-1 visa.
After a run-in with the law in 2022, the student reapplied for their visa. Several months later, it was granted. The lawsuit says the consulate was aware of the arrest.
Fast forward to April of this year — the lawsuit says the student's SEVIS record was terminated, and they were notified four days later.
That's why Tolchin filed a temporary restraining order against the DHS.
She believes terminating the student's visa was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
This act requires that DHS provide advanced notice, explanation, or an opportunity to respond.
"It was done recklessly. It was done without legal authority," said Tolchin.
The court agreed with this assessment.
Tolchin says this San Diego student's legal argument was one of more than 25 filed across the country recently.
According to Politico, the mass terminations sparked more than 100 lawsuits in the past month in at least 23 states.
Tolchin believes the terminations were targeted.
"What we think happened is that basically an algorithm was run to look for people from certain countries and any criminal hit," said Tolchin. "I'm anticipating a similar outcome for other students across the country. I'm hearing many students have had their visas restored and many more are still waiting."
DHS declined ABC 10News' request for comment.
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