Seven international students studying in Indiana have had a restraining order on their visas being removed denied. The removal is part of a wider change affecting the visas of over 1,550 international students in the U.S. Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm, Unsplash.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge ruled that a temporary restraining order would not be granted to seven international students with U.S. visas canceled by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month.

The students argued that the federal government’s actions violated the right to a fair trial under the Fifth Amendment and demanded that the court reinstate the visa and that immigration authorities prevent detention or deportation.

Judge James Patrick Hanlon of Indiana’s Southern District said in an order that students from Purdue University, Indiana University of Indianapolis and Notre Dame University have not demonstrated how visa losses have serious consequences.

Acknowledging the turmoil visa termination is causing the students, Hanlon wrote, “Plaintiffs have not demonstrated irreparable harm to warrant the extraordinary exercise of judicial power required for the Court to issue a temporary restraining order.”

The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, is a federal program used for the management and tracking of those with F-1 visas.

Over 1,550 international students in more than 240 schools have recently had their visa status changed by the federal government.

According to court records, federal judges from other states have granted similar temporary orders to international students who lost their visas, in states including Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin.

In the Indiana lawsuit, college students say their visas were revoked without notice or a chance for a response and now live in fear of deportation. Visas allow them to study at U.S. universities and work as long as they meet specific requirements.

Five of the students are enrolled in Purdue University programs and one is enrolled in Indiana University Indianapolis. Each of them has Chinese citizenship. The seventh student is from Nigeria and attends the University of Notre Dame.

The students are represented by ACLU Indiana. Legal director Ken Folk said in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed in this decision.”

The judge said more evidence was needed.

“Under Supreme Court precedent, ‘some possibility’ of deportation is not enough to show irreparable harm,” Hanlon wrote. “Plaintiffs have not shown non-speculative harm beyond a potential gap in their educations, which standing alone is generally not irreparable harm.”

Each plaintiff must individually indicate how they will be damaged by Friday, April 25.

Hanlon also pointed out that only one student lives in the court district. Other students can participate in the lawsuit if they can indicate why they should be part of the case by Wednesday, April 23.

Andre Watson, a senior National Security Division official of the DHS, submitted a statement supporting the federal government’s decision.

According to Watson, the DHS posted student information in criminal databases and found “verified” matches with criminal records. At the time, the state of the charges was “unknown”, but the agency still canceled the SEVIS records.

According to Watson, none of the students are detained by the ICE and are not currently undergoing administrative eviction.

In the initial complaint, most of the students had some sort of legal history. The ACLU states that previous meetings with law enforcement did not violate visa conditions and, in most cases, charges were dismissed or put into deferral programs.

All seven students are in good shape at the university, they said.

“These students have invested years of their lives and thousands of dollars in their education,” Falk said. “For DHS to terminate their status with no warning is deeply unfair, and we believe it is illegal.”

The ACLU said it was deciding its next steps. The DHS must respond to complaints by Wednesday, April 30.