International students who pursue titles in the public universities of Michigan sought relief of detention and deportation during a federal court on Tuesday, after their state of student immigration was canceled this month, endangering their legal status in the United States.
The students, two citizens of China, one from Nepal and one from India, filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Department of National Security (DHS) and immigration officials, claiming that their status of student immigration in the information system of visitors to students and exchanges (sevis) was illegally completed “without sufficient notification and explanation.”
Sevis is a database that tracks information on non -immigrants and exchanges visitors in the US.
“According to the Government, they no longer have legal status in the United States, and they have to leave the country immediately,” Ramis Wadood, lawyer of the American Union of Civil Libertads (ACLU) of Michigan that represents the students, told ABC News.
He pointed out that the students did not obtain any type of grace.
“You no longer have status and you have to leave the country immediately,” Wadood said.
The complaint was filed at the United States District Court by Michigan’s ACLU on the name of the students: Xiangyun Bu, Qiuyi Yang, Yogesh Joshi and Chinmay Deore. According to the complaint, in addition to their status of student immigration, Yang and Joshi were told that their visas of F-1 students, which allowed them to enter the country, were also revoked.
“None of them have been accused of, much less convicted of, no crime in the United States,” the complaint said. “None has violated any immigration law. Nor has it been active in protests on the campus with respect to any political problem.”
AINA DEL CENTRO DEROIT, Michigan
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Student lawyers argued during a Tuesday morning hearing in a federal Detroit court for a temporary restriction order that would restore their legal status and protect them from arrest or deportation as the case progresses.
According to Wadood, the judge indicated that “he acknowledged the urgency of the situation and said he would govern soon.”
Wadood told ABC News on Monday that their customers run the risk of being arrested by the application of immigration and customs (ICE) and that they are “scared” and have stopped presenting themselves to classes in person.
“Our clients have been allowed to continue their studies to the extent that their teachers and programs will accommodate,” said Wadood, added that they are trying to resume their studies remotely since “they are at risk of arrest and detention at any time.”
The lawsuit appoints the secretary of DHS Kristi Noem, the interim director of ICE Todd Lyons and the director of the Ice Detroit Robert Lynch field. ABC News contacted officials, but comments requests were not immediately returned.
“The DHS did not provide students with their schools any significant explanation to finish the status of their student F-1,” the complaint said. “At most, what seems to connect to students led by this new and illegal policy is that the students had some encounter with an official of the US law at some point in the past, regardless of how harmless, including the receipt of a ticket of speed or parking excessive (or even a warning) or legally withdrawing a request to enter the United States.”
National Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem speaks at the border Security Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, April 8, 2025.
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The judicial records show four separate letters that each of the students received from their possible universities that inform them that their status of student immigration has been completed. The reason cited by the DHS in all cases is “identified individual in the verification of criminal records”, and for Yang and Joshi also says “and/or visa revoked”.
The Trump administration presented an answer on Monday night to the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restriction order, urging the judge to “deny this request because it is inadequate of procedure and substantial.”
“An emergency motion for a temporary restriction order can only be used to maintain the status quo; it cannot be used to obtain the best relief plaintiffs they are looking for in this case, which is the alteration of their Sevis registration,” he said.
The Government also alleged in Monday’s presentation that students have a criminal record, but did not provide additional details.
“The DHS sought in the criminal records for each of the plaintiffs and the criminal records were returned for each of the plaintiffs,” said his answer.
Wadood denied that one of his clients has been accused or convicted of a crime. He said that by explaining his reference to the “criminal records,” the Government cited three of its clients who were arrested for alleged national disputes.
Subsequently they were released and not accused of any crime, while a plaintiff “does not have as much speed or a parking ticket”, according to Wadood
“The criminal history of our plaintiffs is clean. They have no convictions, or charges,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens when President Donald Trump meets with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025.
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Federal demand occurs when the repression of immigration of the Trump administration attacks higher education, which causes a series of demands against White House officials. Similar demands have been filed throughout the country in states such as New Hampshire, Indiana and California.
According Within the upper edition – A publication that tracks the news in higher education, as of Tuesday, more than 180 schools and universities have identified almost 1,200 international students and recent graduates who have changed their legal status by the State Department.
“If the courts do not put an end to this arbitrary government action, then the generations of future international students will see what is happening today and decide: ‘You know what, it probably is not safe for me to go to the United States to study,'” said Wadood. “And our academic institutions, our academic communities, will be much worse for that.”
The Trump administration seems to be pointing to some international students with visas of students and green card holders for their participation in pro-palestinian protests in the university campuses or for alleged criminal records.
“A visa is a gift. It’s voluntary. We decided to give it a visa,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying During a press conference on March 28. “We deny visas worldwide every day for a variety of reasons, and that means that we can also revoke those visas. No one has the right to a visa.”
