World Immigration News

Lawsuits seek to restore dozens of foreign students’ legal status amid targeting by immigration authorities

Release Date: 2025-04-21
Media: CNN
Summary: Under the Trump administration, many international students in the U.S. were stripped of their legal student status, prompting two major lawsuits filed in Georgia and New Hampshire. These suits argue that the government unlawfully terminated the students’ legal status—distinct from their visas—by removing them from SEVIS (the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), despite the students not having committed serious violations or crimes. Many were affected due to minor infractions like traffic violations or dismissed charges, yet their SEVIS records were marked as if they had violated immigration rules or faced criminal concerns.

The lawsuits claim this mass termination was a coercive tactic to push students into leaving the country voluntarily. In Georgia, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to reinstate the plaintiffs' student status while the case proceeds. The New Hampshire case is seeking class-action status and aims to represent a broader group of students across several states.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, defends the actions, asserting that visa holders who break U.S. laws or support violence should lose their privileges. The lawsuits, however, do not challenge the revocation of visas but focus solely on what they claim is the unlawful loss of legal student status. Attorneys and civil rights groups argue these actions are unjust and disrupt the lives and education of students who have not broken immigration law.
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