NIU ‘aware’ of international student visa revocation reversal, spokesperson says

DeKALB – Federal immigration agents are reversing the termination of legal status for international students across the country, and a spokesperson for Northern Illinois University said Friday that NIU leaders are keeping apprised of the ongoing situation.

The reversal comes amid multiple lawsuits filed against the federal government on behalf of students across the country living and studying in the country legally with visas.

Earlier this month, NIU spokesperson Jami Kunzer confirmed with Shaw Local News Network that five NIU students had lost their legal visa status, part of a slew of students like them targeted across Illinois.

When asked Friday if NIU officials knew about the visa termination reversal, Kunzer said yes.

“We are aware, and as it’s a developing situation, we will not have an update to provide today,” Kunzer said Friday. She did not provide further details.

No reason has been publicly given as to why the students’ visas were revoked. Trump officials have claimed some students violated visa rules or threatened national security. Those opposed have argued that the government has abruptly revoked visas with little evidence to support the allegations against students and without due process.

[ https://www.shawlocal.com/news/2025/04/10/chilling-silence-waves-of-illinois-international-university-students-lose-their-visas/ ]

The U.S. government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration’s crackdown, federal officials said Friday.

The records in a federal student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks, The Associated Press reported. Judges across the U.S. had already issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.

It’s unclear what the current status of NIU’s five students is as of Friday. Kunzer did not provide further details when asked.

The often-changing status of President Donald Trump’s federal immigration orders has come under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks, including from local Democrats and other DeKalb County migrant support groups. Multiple protests, including one held April 19, have drawn hundreds to DeKalb.

The latest occurred on NIU campus Wednesday, when organizers rallied in support of NIU’s international students, faculty and staff. Among notable attendees were U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville and Cortland Mayor Mark Pietrowski, who also works at NIU.

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Attendees hold signs and cheer Wednesday, April 23, 2025, during a rally to support Northern Illinois University’s international students, faculty and staff, in front of Founders Memorial Library at NIU in DeKalb. (Mark Busch)

Government says it will restore student status

In one of the lawsuits, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Kurlan read a statement in federal court in Oakland, California, saying ICE was restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in recent weeks. A similar statement was read by a government attorney in a separate case in Washington, said lawyer Brian Green, who represents the plaintiff in that case. Green provided The Associated Press with a copy of the statement the government lawyer emailed him.

It says: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff[s] in this case [and other similarly situated plaintiffs] will remain Active or shall be reactivated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”

SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, a database of criminal justice information maintained by the FBI.

Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, said ICE had not reversed course on any visa revocations but did “restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”

Greg Chen, with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said some uncertainty remained: “It is still unclear whether ICE will restore status to everyone it has targeted and whether the State Department will help students whose visas were wrongly revoked.”

The Associated Press contributed.