Over 130 Foreign Students Sue Trump Administration Over Visa Revocations Amid Pro-Palestinian Crackdown
Lawsuit Alleges Illegal Visa Cancellations, False Criminal Listings, and Retaliation for Campus Protests.
Watan-More than 130 foreign students have joined a lawsuit challenging the’s decision to revoke their student visas, according to court documents. The lawsuit, filed by the students in federal court in Georgia, in the southeastern United States, targets Justice Secretary Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons.
The lawsuit was initially filed on April 11 by 17 foreign students, but by Tuesday evening, the number of plaintiffs had grown to 133, according to the latest court filings.
The students allege that immigration authorities in the new U.S. administration “suddenly and illegally” terminated their legal student status through a special registration database, even though their visas were “fully valid.” Some of the students were listed in the system as having criminal records, which they say is false, according to the legal documents.
Students Face Deportation Over Protests, Despite Legal Status
The lawsuit argues that stripping them of their student status “prevents them from continuing their studies and maintaining their employment in the United States,” and exposes them to “the risk of arrest, detention, and deportation.” It demands the restoration of their legal status. The students’ identities have been kept confidential in court records “out of fear of retaliation,” and include nationals from India, China, and Colombia.
In the final weeks of the Trump administration, visas were canceled for hundreds of foreign students (over 500, according to CNN). Others were detained after participating in pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. university campuses and opposing the Israeli war on Gaza. These students now face the threat of deportation, despite their legal presence in the U.S.
Trump Targets Students and Universities in Post-March Crackdown
This comes as part of Trump’s stated plan, which he openly declared after the March 8 arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate in New York, despite his lawful status and possession of a green card. The former president boasted about the arrest and warned that it was “the first of many upcoming arrests,” according to a post he shared two days later.
In a related move, the Trump administration has intensified its attacks on several prestigious U.S. universities, including Columbia and Harvard, accusing them of having leftist policies and allowing the spread of anti-Semitism on campus.
