The students’ attorneys alleged that the Trump administration’s move to terminate their student status was unlawful.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the deportation of two international students in Oregon and ordered the Trump administration to reinstate their visa status.
The decision follows two
lawsuits filed by a student at Oregon State University and another at the University of Oregon, who had their F-1 student immigration status terminated by the administration.
U.S. District Judge Michael McShane issued a temporary restraining order preventing the students from being deported and ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restore their F-1 student records for 14 days, according to the
court order.Both plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon and an immigration law firm. The first
student, Aaron Olaf Ortega Gonzalez, is a Mexican national pursuing a doctoral degree in rangeland ecology and management at Oregon State University.
The second student, identified only as
Jane Doe, is a British citizen pursuing two master’s degrees at the University of Oregon. The plaintiffs said their student status was revoked “without any notice or meaningful explanation” given by the DHS.
Their attorneys
alleged that the DHS’s move to terminate student status was “unlawful” and violates their clients’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.
A
motion filed by Ortega Gonzalez’s lawyers on April 17 states that the government terminated his F-1 student record on April 4, citing as the reason that he was “identified in criminal records check and/or has had their VISA revoked.”
His lawyers argued that Ortega Gonzalez has never been arrested or convicted of any crime in the United States, according to the motion.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Conti, representing the federal Department of Homeland Security, said it hadn’t had enough time to gather all the information and argued that the students didn’t face irreparable harm, as a final agency decision had not been issued that they could challenge administratively, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Nonprofit organization Innovation Law Lab, which also represented the plaintiffs,
called the court’s decision “a great victory” for students and universities in Oregon, saying it would allow them to continue working and pursuing their studies in the state.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the DHS for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.
Multiple ACLU affiliates
filed a federal class action lawsuit on April 18, representing more than 100 foreign students in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico who they say had their F-1 student immigration status “unlawfully and abruptly terminated with no specified reason as to why.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last month that the State Department may have
revoked more than 300 visas so far. Rubio
said the government is canceling visas for those acting against national interests, such as those who supported the Hamas terrorist group or are facing criminal charges.
Jacob Burg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
