Two UNL students’ visas have been restored after Trump walks back cancellations

LINCOLN — Two of the three University of Nebraska-Lincoln students whose visas were revoked have had them restored after the Trump administration backed off its efforts to cancel visas held by international students.

UNL officials confirmed the restoration of the visas to the Nebraska Examiner. The Justice Department announced the wholesale reversal in federal court Friday. 

A Justice Department lawyer, Joseph F. Carilli, said that immigration officials have begun developing a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students. Until the process is complete, agencies would not make additional changes or further revocations, according to The New York Times.

The reversal comes after the Trump administration began revoking the visas and launching deportation proceedings against a number of students who had participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza, or who had previous charges, like DUIs. 

Late last week, UNL announced that three international students had had their visas revoked by the U.S. Department of State. UNL has 1,654 international students, according to a university census.

It’s unclear why the other student’s visa is still revoked.