Federal judge orders ICE to reinstate legal status of 133 foreign students

A federal judge in Georgia has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the legal statuses of international students by p m Tuesday after their F- attendee visas were suddenly terminated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE and Homeland Shield DHS The students plenty of of whom are in good academic standing and close to graduation had their records terminated on Homeland Precaution s SEVIS Attendee and Exchange Visitor Information System and they allege this was done without prior notice proper explanation or an opportunity to respond SEVIS is a database Homeland Safeguard uses to monitor non-immigrant students U S District Court Judge Victoria Calvert a Biden appointee granted temporary restraining orders on behalf of the plaintiffs and ordered ICE and DHS to reinstate learner statuses retroactively to March INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SUE OVER TRUMP ADMIN REVOKING VISAS Plaintiffs are likely to show that Defendants' termination of the SEVIS registration exceeds the bounds of statutory and regulatory authority and is therefore unlawful Calvert wrote The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and other groups in the Northern District of Georgia with Attorney General Pam Bondi Homeland Prevention Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons listed as defendants in the matter The Department of Justice responses to the lawsuit are at the moment sealed in the court docket The plaintiffs argue that the SERVIS terminations were used as a coercive tool rather than a lawful enforcement action and that numerous of the students have no criminal records and were given short notice to leave the U S despite maintaining valid novice visas Furthermore several of the students are enrolled in STEM programs or work placements suggesting they are high-achieving international students DHS's act of unlawfully terminating SEVIS records appears to be designed to coerce students including each plaintiff into abandoning their studies and self-deporting despite not violating their status the plaintiffs wrote TRUMP COLLEGE CRACKDOWN LIST OF STUDENTS DETAINED AMID ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUSESThe establishment argues that the revocations were valid under existing laws and regulations particularly when students were flagged during criminal record checks or had their visas revoked They cited grounds for deportability even when there had been no arrest or conviction The judge also rejected the establishment s claim that granting relief to these students would affect the executive s control over immigration Calvert exposed that the terminations exceeded legal authority and likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment Furthermore the judge determined that the plaintiffs had demonstrated a substantial threat of irreparable harm including loss of legal status instruction employment and mental distress and that the balance of harms and inhabitants interest favored the students The decision was welcomed by Akiva Freidlin the senior staff attorney at the ACLU-Georgia The Constitution protects everyone on American soil so the Trump administration cannot ignore due process to unjustifiably threaten students with the loss of immigration status and arrest and deportation Friedlin announced in a comment READ THE ORDER BELOW APP USERS CLICK HERE We believe this ruling shows the students are likely to prevail on their asserts and we are pleased the court ordered the authorities to halt its unlawful actions while the lawsuit continues The occurrence will now be heard for a preliminary injunction potentially offering longer-term relief on Thursday April