Attorneys File Challenge to Visa Revocations, New ICE Policy

Immigration attorneys on Thursday amended an ongoing lawsuit in Georgia to challenge the State Department’s revocation of international student visas, the first suit to take aim at visas as well as at ICE’s residency status terminations.

They also amended their lawsuit to challenge a new ICE policy proposal that would vastly expand the agency’s power to terminate students’ legal status and begin deportation proceedings— including based solely on a visa revocation, which normally would not lead to a change in a student’s residency status.

Charles Kuck, one of the attorneys in the Georgia case, told Inside Higher Ed of his plans to file the amendments on Thursday morning. 

International students who found themselves in jeopardy of deportation have filed more than a hundred lawsuits challenging the termination of their legal status in the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System, many of which led to court orders restoring their right to stay in the U.S. The new filing argues not only that the SEVIS terminations were illegal, but also that in light of the new policy, the visa revocations should be seen as part of the same coordinated strategy and thus tossed aside as well.

F-1 visa revocations are largely considered to be exempt from court challenges, immigration law experts have told Inside Higher Ed.