MARSHALL — The United States government made a move on Friday to restore terminated records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems [SEVIS], a federal database that monitors international students’ compliance with their visa status.

The deleted records for international students, resulting in revoked student visas, has led to a wave of students filing lawsuits on the government to challenge the termination in hopes to restore their status.

Although the government makes a move to restore the records in SEVIS, the restoration of student visas that have already been revoked is still in question.

Marshall resident, 33-year-old Aditya Harsono originally from Indonesia, had his student visa taken away on March 23 without warning and was arrested by ICE agents four days later. He remains in custody at the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar, according to the ICE locator as of Monday.

“We are heartbroken to share that our attorney does not believe this change will apply to students who are currently detained — Like my husband,” Aditya’s wife, Peyton Harsono, wrote on a public GoFundMe page on Friday. “That said, we are actively working to confirm the current status of his student visa.”

Aditya’s student visa was issued to him on June 15, 2021, and valid through June 13, 2026. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Southwest Minnesota State University.

An immigration judge most recently denied the motion to dismiss Aditya’s case at a court hearing on April 17, keeping him in custody.

According to The Associated Press in a review of university statements and correspondence with schools, more than 1,200 international students have had their visas revoked or legal status terminated across the country’s university systems since March.

The Associated Press received a copy of a statement from a government lawyer provided by Brian Green, a lawyer representing several students in a lawsuit, which reads, “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 re-activated 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.”

The NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, a database maintained by the FBI for criminal justice information.

This meaning that until the new policy is complete, the recent students’ records that had been deleted will now be restored, as should their legal status.

According to several media outlets, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, “We have not reversed course on a single visa revocation … What we did is restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”

Also according to several outlets, Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association affirmed the uncertainty that remains.

“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,” Chen said.