On Tuesday a United States District Court Judge put the brakes on a federal visa change for two international Montana State University students who had their visas suddenly revoked by the Department of Homeland Security last week.
The temporary restraining order will allow the students' visas to remain in legal status until the larger case is decided.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana asked the judge for the order one day earlier as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the students .
On Friday Montana State University President Waded Cruzado sent a campus wide letter saying three international students had their F-1 student visa status revoked by the Department of Homeland Security.
MSU Communications said the university did not receive prior notice from DHS about the action against the student visas and the change was caught during a routine check of an online portal tracking student visas.
Executive Director of the ACLU of Montana, Akilah Deernose says the lawsuit filed Monday in United States District Court argues Homeland Security did not follow protocol.
“Neither the university nor the students received any advance notice or opportunity to be heard in this case”
Court documents state that the two students received letters on April 10th notifying them of the visa change and telling them they’d be expected to leave the United States immediately or face arrest, detention or deportation by federal authorities.
Deernose says the sudden change left both students scratching their heads as to why.
“Plaintiffs don't have any criminal convictions they were in lawful status of their F-1 student visa” Deernose said.
Deernose says patterns across the country seem to point to students being targeted because of their country of origin. The students named under pseudonyms in the lawsuit are a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering and physics from Iran and a masters student of microbiology from Turkey.
“These are just two students among hundreds if not more that we've heard of who have across the nation to have received the sudden revocations about any notice” Deernose said.
The termination of their visa status has affected both students’ livelihood as both were employed on campus in work related to their degrees.
“They have dedicated immense energy effort, you know years and years of their life pursuing these graduate degrees because they are really passionate about the work that they do” Deernose said.
Before their visas were revoked both students were expected to graduate within the year.
The first court appearance for the case is scheduled for April 29th in Missoula.
