Indian among 4 students to move US court against possible deportation
Student immigration status illegally terminated “without sufficient notice and explanation”, allege Chinmay Deore and three others
An Indian is among four students at Michigan public universities who have filed a lawsuit against their possible deportation after their student immigration status was terminated “unlawfully”.
Chinmay Deore from India, Xiangyun Bu and Qiuyi Yang from China, and Yogesh Joshi from Nepal filed the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and immigration officials last Friday (April 11), saying their student immigration status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was illegally terminated “without sufficient notice and explanation”.
SEVIS is a database that tracks information about non-immigrant students and exchange visitors in the US.
None charged with any crime
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, which is representing the students, said they “filed a federal lawsuit along with a request for an emergency injunction on behalf of the students who had their F-1 student immigration status unlawfully and abruptly terminated by the Trump administration for no valid reason and without notice".
“The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate the status of these students so that they will be able to complete their studies and avoid facing the risk of detention and deportation,” it said.
Also read: US judge blocks Trump govt from deporting Indian student
“None of them has been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime in the US. None has violated any immigration law. Nor have they been active in on-campus protests regarding any political issue,” said a complaint in the court, naming DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and ICE Detroit Field Office Director Robert Lynch.
“DHS did not provide the students or their schools any meaningful explanation for terminating their F-1 student status,” the complaint said.
Encounter with law enforcement officials in past
“At most, what seems to connect students targeted by this newfound and unlawful policy is that the students had some encounter with some American law enforcement official at some point in the past, no matter how innocuous — including receiving a speeding or parking ticket (or even a warning) or lawfully withdrawing an application to enter the United States,” said the lawsuit.
Ramis Wadood, staff attorney at the ACLU of Michigan, said, “These cruel and illegal government actions have real-life consequences. Status terminations don’t just disrupt the lives of the students being targeted; the government’s actions will inevitably deter future international scholars from choosing Michigan and the US as their academic destination. This will further undermine the reputation of our universities as leaders in research, innovation, and campus diversity, all of which are currently in jeopardy.”
Also read: Foreign students in US asked to self-deport over ‘campus activism’: Report
Who is Chinmay Deore?
According to the lawsuit, Deore (21) first entered the US in 2004, with his family, on an H-4 dependent visa. They left the US in 2008 but returned in 2014. He completed high school in Michigan and enrolled at Wayne State University under the H-4 visa status.
Deore currently lives with his family in Canton and has been studying computer science (undergraduate) at Wayne State University since August 2021. He expects to graduate in May 2025.
In May 2022, he applied for permission to transition to F-1 student status and was granted the status. Once he graduates, he plans to, rightfully, obtain Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment.
The other students
Of the three others who filed the lawsuit, Xiangyun has been pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan since August 2023.
Qiuyi (26) is a PhD student at the University of Michigan, where she has been studying at the School for Environment and Sustainability since August 2023. She earned a master’s degree in urban planning from Cornell University in May 2023.
Joshi, 32, of Nepal, is a PhD student at Wayne State University, where he has been studying anatomy and cell biology since August 2021. He entered the US on an F-1 visa in August 2021 and lives in Detroit with his wife and eight-month-old child, who is a US citizen by birth. He expects to graduate in 2026.
Also read: Who is Ranjani Srinivasan, who ‘self-deported’ from US? What is self-deportation?
Another student gets relief
The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown strikes higher education, prompting a slew of lawsuits against White House officials. Similar lawsuits have been filed across the country in states like New Hampshire, Indiana and California.
On Wednesday (April 16), it was reported that a US federal judge had temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a 21-year-old undergraduate Indian whose student visa was cancelled.
Krish Lal Isserdasani has been pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an F-1 student visa since 2021. On April 4, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s International Student Services (ISS) office informed Isserdasani by email that his SEVIS record had been terminated.
The court will hold a preliminary injunction hearing in the case on April 28.
(With agency inputs)