The Trump administration has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to reinstate the legal status allowing 133 international students to be in the United States, according to a temporary restraining order granted in a U.S. District Court in Georgia late last week.
Federal Judge Victoria Calvert issued the order last Friday on behalf of the students who had claimed in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and other groups in the Northern District of Georgia on claims the students' statuses were revoked unlawfully, ABC News reported Tuesday morning.
The lawsuit joins others that claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement "abruptly and unlawfully" terminated students' records on the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a database used by the Department of Homeland Security to monitor non-immigrant students.
"DHS's act of unlawfully terminating SEVIS records appears to be designed to coerce students, including each Plaintiff, into abandoning their studies and 'self-deporting' despite not violating their status," the lawsuit said.
Many of the plaintiffs involved had been facing charges of traffic violations or minor misdemeanors, but those charges had been dropped. Others were never cited for any violations.
The government's attorneys said a ruling in favor of the students would affect how the executive branch maintains control over immigration, but Calvert disagreed and ordered the administration to notify the court when it restores the students' legal status.
She also said the government must not use the identities of the plaintiffs involved for any reason beyond the lawsuit.
Another hearing has been set for Thursday.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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