Foreign Students Mount Court Challenges as Trump Revokes Their US Visas

Judges in at Least 7 States Issue Orders Barring the Authorities From Deporting Them

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BOSTON - International students are rushing to ask US judges to block immigration officials from deporting them after President Donald Trump's administration began revoking the rights of thousands of student visa holders to remain in the country.

On April 15 alone, judges in at least seven states, including Massachusetts, Montana, and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, issued emergency orders barring the immigration authorities from acting against students after the government canceled their legal basis for being in the U.S., part of Mr. Trump's broad immigration crackdown.

"This is popping up all over the country," U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston said during a hearing on April 15 at which she blocked the authorities from arresting a 22-year-old Chinese student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who is weeks away from earning her degree.

The federal government revoked the students' status by removing them from a database of the approximately 1.1 million foreign student visa holders, putting them at risk of deportation.

The database monitors compliance with visa terms and records foreign students' addresses, progress towards graduation, and other information.

Since Mr. Trump took office on Jan. 20, more than 4,700 students have been deleted from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-maintained database known as Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.