Lawsuit against Trump balloons in size as foreign students face rising risks
A lawsuit against the Trump administration has nearly tripled in plaintiffs — going from 133 originally to 351 — as foreign students across the country feel the risk of staying in the United States.
The lawsuit, filed in Georgia but covering students nationwide, comes as a result of thousands of students across the country being notified that their student visas and/or their legal status through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System database (SEVIS) had been revoked, including many in Massachusetts.
An order on the lawsuit on Friday granted those plaintiffs a preliminary injunction and stated that their lawsuit is likely to succeed in proving that the Trump administration was 'acting arbitrary, capriciously, and not in accordance with the law' when it revoked students' legal status.
The status of international students' visas is tracked through the SEVIS database. A SEVIS legal status allows a foreign student to remain in the United States, while a student visa allows a person to study in the country.
In response, over 100 lawsuits were filed, with more than 50 of the cases ordering the Trump administration to temporarily undo the actions, according to Politico.
Five international students — including two from Worcester Polytechnic Institute — filed a separate federal class action lawsuit in New Hampshire federal court that aims to represent more than 100 students in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island who had their F-1 student immigration status revoked by the Republican administration.
Last week, it looked like the Trump administration would reverse course as federal officials said it would reinstate the legal status of international students.
However, they also said they were working on a new policy for international students studying in the U.S. to provide a framework for SEVIS legal status terminations.
The new guidance, which was released a few days later, allows foreign students to have their legal status revoked for a variety of reasons, including 'exceeded unemployment time.'
Read more: 'Games of chicken': Trump reversing foreign student legal status raises concerns
'ICE tried to 'fix' the problem it created, and made it worse,' said Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney who is leading the lawsuit that now represents 351 foreign students who lost their legal status.
'They have not walked them back. They left all these students with status gaps, did not restore all the students, and are, again, revoking SEVIS again for some of those who had been reinstated,' Kuck said.
In Massachusetts, foreign students have been especially targeted at Harvard University.
Harvard was issued an ultimatum by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in an April 16 letter: it could refuse to respond to its demands and lose its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification allowing international students to study there — 27% of its undergraduate and graduate population — or give up information about its foreign student population.
Harvard said it provided DHS 'information required by law' about foreign students' illegal activity and records, but didn't state what information was given.
Given ongoing pressures, admitted international students will be allowed to accept admission at Harvard University and at a foreign institution as a 'backup plan.'
The lawsuit representing 351 students was originally filed April 14, according to Kuck. To become a class action, it still needs a judge's approval, he said.
The lawsuit aims to have the court state that students' legal status and student visas be reinstated to the 'exact immigration and legal position they were in as of March 25, 2025,' according to the filing.
It also aims to have the court declare that the termination of students' SEVIS records were 'arbitrary, capricious and unlawful,' declare the revocation of valid visas to be unlawful and order the federal government to remove any inaccurate or defamatory information about the students from 'systems of record.'
The lawsuit is unique because it 'attacks the legality of the 'fix' and also addresses the visa revocation,' according to Kuck.
The lawsuit claims that ICE had 'no authority' to terminate students' SEVIS records and that the revocations have caused 'imminent concrete and preventable harm,' according to the lawsuit.
It further claims that the new policies by the federal government created a slew of legal issues.
'A visa revocation should not, legally, impact a student's immigration status in the United States, yet such a revocation will be treated by ICE in a manner that constructively terminates that student's status by cutting off the ability to work, to study, and to change immigration statuses within the United States," the lawsuit reads.
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