GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the F-1 status of several international Western Michigan University students.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, claims that DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terminated students’ legal F-1 status by changing their records in SEVIS, a federal database for tracking international students.
An emergency injunction hearing in regard to the lawsuit was held on Tuesday in the Grand Rapids Western District Court.
The legal team representing the international students has been granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) and the students’ SEVIS records are to be reinstated for at least 14 days amid the lawsuit, allowing them to return to school and work while the case proceeds without being at risk of deportation.
Adriana Klemish, an associate attorney with the law firm representing the students, said the students involved have never violated any laws that would warrant immigration consequences or their legal status be revoked. Instead, students were targeted based on any past interaction with law enforcement.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Gloria Gao, WMU PhD student and Grand Rapids Community College instructor said, “How can you explain to people, you have a criminal history, just because you had a speeding ticket five years ago?”
Gao was issued a speeding ticket in 2020, but never imagined that infraction would put her in jeopardy of continuing her professional education five years later. Gao is one of only three WMU students named in the suit, but according to Klemish, several more are expected to be added by the end of the week.
Following Tuesday’s ruling by Judge Beckering of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Gao expressed feelings of relief, knowing she would be able to return to her studies at WMU, teaching at GRCC, and planning for her second child, due in August. She described the termination of her SEVIS status as ‘unnecessary stress’.
“It’s just as the judge asked, ‘what’s the goal of this action? Why did you do that?’,” Gao said, “I understand she’s doing her job, but she [the defense attorney] didn’t have answer at all. There’s no answer.”
There is a potential hearing set for May 6th, 14 days after the reinstatement of the SEVIS statuses of the named students.
