Welcome to the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup, where every month we will summarize and provide links to the latest stories impacting U.S. immigration.
Below is the April 2025 edition of the Garfinkel Immigration news roundup:
Current issues facing F-1 international students: Revocation of visas, enhanced social media screening, and more information to know
International students in the United States are facing a number of evolving issues and challenges that could potentially affect their ability to study, work, and remain in the country.
Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm’s latest white paper from Partner William R. Hummel, head of the Firm’s Education Specialty Practice Group, reviews the recent changes, explains how they impact F-1 visa holders and recent graduates, and provides an overview of some alternative strategies and pathways if an H-1B cap subject visa is unavailable for a foreign national.
Read the full white paper here.
What is the E (Treaty Trader/Treaty Investor) visa category?
E-1 (treaty trader) and E-2 (treaty investor) visas are issued pursuant to bilateral treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation between the United States and various other countries. Most Western European countries are parties to such treaties with the U.S.
These treaties provide that a national of the treaty country involved may live and work in the United States for an employer sharing their nationality in certain specified capacities. The E visa is the statutory means whereby these treaty provisions are made effective.
Learn more about the E visa category here.
Administration is restoring international students’ legal statuses while ICE develops ‘framework’ for terminations
The Trump administration said during a court hearing April 25 it was restoring the status of foreign students whose records were recently terminated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). ICE is creating a “new policy that will provide a framework for status record termination,” the Justice Department said, via NBC News.
“Many international students with terminated statuses began to discover that their records were abruptly restored Thursday afternoon, immigration attorneys and universities across the U.S. told NBC News,” the story read. “The reinstatements occurred with little-to-no explanation.”
This is a developing situation that the attorneys at Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm are monitoring closely. We will alert clients as circumstances warrant and evolve.
Read the full NBC News story here.
What green-card and visa holders should know before traveling abroad
Many visa and green card holders are anxious about traveling internationally because of increased scrutiny and shifting policies at U.S. ports-of-entry.
This recent article from NPR explains the important information foreign nationals should know now before traveling abroad and explores the rights they have during the inspection process when they return to the U.S.
“In recent weeks, international tourists, visa holders and lawful permanent residents — also known as green-card holders — have been facing tougher scrutiny at airports and border crossings,” the NPR story read. “The change comes amid a broader crackdown by the Trump administration to reduce both legal and illegal immigration to the country.”
Read the full story from NPR here.
Trump draft executive order would make sweeping changes to the U.S. State Department
The Trump administration could be planning to make major changes to the Department of State (DOS), as detailed in this recent article from CNBC. The article cites a draft executive order obtained by the news organization.
“The 16-page draft order, which is not dated but appears to be prepared for President Donald Trump’s signature, would dramatically upend the department if it is enacted — shuttering American embassies across Southern Africa and eliminating bureaus that work on issues like democracy and human rights, as well as international organizations like the United Nations,” the story read.
The story added: “America’s diplomatic presence in Canada would be drastically cut under the order. Going forward, State Department operations in Canada would ‘fall under a significantly reduced team delegated as the North American Affairs Office’ within Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office.”
Read the full story from CNBC here.
First Amendment lawsuit targets immigration detentions in places of worship
This story from the Miami Herald details a lawsuit from a group of churches who have “sued the Trump administration over its historic policy change pushing for the arrest of undocumented immigrants at places of worship, saying it violates their First Amendment rights protecting them from enforcement activity.”
“The suit was triggered by the Department of Homeland Security’s Jan. 20, 2025, memo revoking a Biden administration policy on ‘sensitive locations’ that reflected longstanding government guidelines to avoid arrests of undocumented immigrants in places of worship, schools and health clinics,” the story read.
The story continued: In the suit, the churches said, “their efforts to cultivate sacred spaces where their communities may gather freely have been turned upside down because they must decide if, by providing such spaces, they are offering their friends and neighbors not safety, but an unacceptable risk of unchecked and unfair immigration enforcement that could tear their families apart.”