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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe ACLU of Indiana has filed a lawsuit against the heads of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging the federal agencies unlawfully terminated the legal status of seven international students enrolled at Indiana universities.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on behalf of students Jelena Liu, Nina Hu, Junde Zhu, Xiaotian Yu, Xilai Dai, Zhaorui Ni, and Jideofor Odoeze.
Liu is a graduate student at Indiana University Indianapolis. Zhu, Yu, Dai, Ni and Hu study at Purdue University, while Odoeze is a doctoral student at Notre Dame.
“There is no rhyme or reason for DHS’s action. To terminate an international student’s status, the U.S. government must adhere to regulatory standards and provide basic due process, which it has failed to do.” ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said in a news release. “The impact on these students’ lives is profound, and now they live in fear of being deported at any moment. We’re calling on the court to take immediate steps to stop these unlawful actions.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons are named as defendants in the suit.
Neither agency immediately responded to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
According to the ACLU, the lawsuit asks the district court to allow the plaintiffs to continue their studies by reinstating their international student status.
The suit alleges that, because the students were offered no opportunity to contest the decision, DHS violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights.
It also alleges that DHS’s actions are contrary to federal law and the U.S. Constitution and violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
A temporary restraining order has been requested to provide immediate protection to the students.
The plaintiffs are studying in the U.S. on F-1 visas. The lawsuit alleges that DHS “unilaterally terminated the F-1 student status of numerous students throughout the United States, including the plaintiffs, stripping them of their ability to remain in the United States as students. No process was provided to challenge the terminations.”
The lawsuit further states that the F-1 visa controls the students’ entry into the U.S., not their continued lawful presence once admitted, and that the plaintiffs were in full compliance with the terms of their F-1 status and had not engaged in any conduct to justify termination.
At least 790 students at more than 120 U.S. colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials.
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The ACLU gets it right.
Students are guests in our country. They are not citizens and do not have the same rights as citizens.
I agree, but these students come to the US and sign leases and have paid tuition. If their status is impacted, it they should be allowed a hearing and time to finish their current semester of classes. The timing of the visa revocation or termination should be based on individual situations.
They do have the right to due process, though. The challenge is that the administration is violating due process rights. Its been shown to be the case repeatedly. If one person in this country does not have due process, none of us do.
Anne-Marie. Yes, they cannot vote, and there are a few other things, but if you’ve had any civics instruction, you’d know the rule of law applies to all people in the US. This means NOBODY is above the law and everyone is entitled to due process.
Without due process, bad things happen like lynchings. The Trump administration is setting up a police state where people can just be disappeared without any hearing.
Like NAZI Germany’s “special enforcement zones” where jews were moved to ghettos and becuase it was hard to change the law, Hitler declared these zones were no part of Germany, therefore people in these zones were beyond the reach of law. Trump is using illegal deportations to move people to his “special enforcement zone”, a prison in El Salvador, Guantanamo Bay didn’t work to well because it was too visible, so he is very deliberately using the same playbook the NAZIs used against the jews.
They have violated no laws. They are not criminals. There is no reason to violate the Constitution except to create a state of fear.
for once I agree with the aclu. let them continue their studies and finish and then when they graduated or received their doctoral degree then they can return to their home countries.