Federal judge in Georgia grants temporary restraining order to protect international student visas

Caption

Protesters gather outside of Tate Student Center at the University of Georgia on April 16, 2025. Speakers at the rally called for an end to visa terminations for international students.

Credit: Chase McGee / GPB News

This is a developing story.

UPDATE: 

Federal Judge Victoria Calvert granted a temporary restraining order Friday to 133 students who have had their visas canceled by the federal government. The order temporarily restores legal status for those students for two weeks.

Calvert noted that many of the students were just weeks away from graduation.

“The loss of timely academic progress alone is sufficient to establish irreparable harm,” she said in the order.

Calvert also noted that the court will likely find that the government broke the law when revoking the visas.

As part of the restraining order agreement, lawyers for the anonymous plaintiffs will release their names to the federal government under a protective order so that their status may be restored. Another hearing that could give the plaintiffs more permanent relief is scheduled for April 24, 2025.

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As GPB reported on April 17, a federal judge in Atlanta seemed inclined Thursday to grant temporary protections— a restraining order against the federal government — for foreign students whose visas have been revoked by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. 

The hearing before federal Judge Victoria Calvert from the 11th Circuit, Northern District in Georgia had 133 plaintiffs, as foreign students across the U.S. are facing visa cancellations. The students' attorneys said their clients are caught in status limbo and fear more action will be taken against them. They are asking for the court to grant a temporary restraining order to restore protections until a final decision is made.

Atlanta immigration lawyer Charles Kuck represents the students. He said they are legally entitled to due process.

"There's no doubt that this administration wants foreign students outside the United States, especially those from countries it does not find desirable," Kuck said during a press conference after the hearing.

The affected students have had their visas paused via the Student and Exchange Visitor, or SEVIS, program. It is administered by ICE. Georgia is among the 10 U.S. states with the most participating schools and active enrollment of foreign students under this program, according to SEVIS data from 2023.

About a fifth of the 133 anonymous plaintiffs live in Georgia. Almost as many live in Texas with the remainder scattered across the country. 

“SEVIS is kind of like the big brother for foreign students," Kuck said. "And if you violate any term in that, you get terminated. But also, apparently, you got terminated when you don't violate any terms in it, according to the new theory of ICE.”

The suit describes how ICE used SEVIS to change visa status because of past infractions, which in some cases were as minor as speeding tickets. A small number of students had prior charges which had been dropped for things like assault or domestic disturbances. At least one student in the suit could find no plausible reason at all for their inclusion.

Kuck believes the SEVIS records were correlated to other databases across all 50 states.

He speculates that authorities are using AI to "check it against every database, every criminal database, every civil database, every immigration database."

"If you get a hit, send them a revocation’,” Kuck said of the way students have been notified.

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Atlanta immigration attorney Charles Kuck argued on behalf of some 133 international college students who for now have no way to continue their studies. "There's no doubt that this administration wants foreign students outside the United States, especially those from countries it does not be desirable," Kuck said. "What we see as a result is the terror in these students."

Credit: Grant Blankenship / GPB

Attorneys for the federal government, including David Powell, argued to Judge Calvert that no real harm had been done to the students, and that they could follow a reinstatement procedure designed to allow students who have somehow fallen out of immigration status back into the system.

Powell told Judge Calvert none of the plaintiffs were truly out of status.

Last week, Azka Mahmood, the executive director of the Georgia chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said the lack of clarity on why some students have had their legal status revoked by the U.S. State Department is causing fear and confusion. 

“This is a really concerning thing for the state of Georgia, for our public education, private education,” Mahmood said.

Mahmood said she is advising international students to check their visa status and make sure they are not in violation of any rules. She is also urging universities to protect their international students.

The majority of the students in the suit are from India. The second largest group are students from China. Only two European students are in the list: one from France and another from Spain.

When asked about how many of their students have been affected, schools in the Georgia University System have not provided firm numbers but have been replying with variations of the same answer: “We will do everything we are legally able to do to support our students.”

Nationwide the numbers of students affected are equally unclear.

Of colleges who have reported numbers back to GPB, Emory University, confirmed four of its students have been caught in the visa confusion. Mercer University, based in Macon, confirmed the same number of students on its Atlanta campus, although it is unclear if any Mercer students are party to the civil suit.

A spokesperson for the University of Georgia told GPB that he was aware of “several” international students who had their student immigration status terminated. He added, “We will continue to provide our international students with timely updates and support as we learn more.”

Only 20 of the 133 plaintiffs in the ongoing litigation are listed alongside the university they attend. Of those, just under half attend a public Georgia school. 

Minimal public protest amidst uncertainty 

Alongside public outcry on the campuses affected by abrupt changes to students' immigration status, some student activists also say there is fear around public demonstrations.

At the University of Georgia, dozens of people, including students, faculty and locals, gathered on the lawn outside Tate Student Center on Wednesday. 

Speakers from the United Campus Workers union and the university’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter called for transparency from school administration and an end to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

One faculty member joined the protest’s scheduled speakers. Dr. Joseph H.G. Fu has been teaching in the university’s math department for 40 years, and he said he’d never seen this level of uncertainty on campus.

“I've talked to at least one colleague who's not just a student but a professor and a green card holder, a longtime resident of the United States in good standing, who is nervous,” he said.

To some, the protest might sound like these students are crying wolf, Fu said. But he noted that in the end of that old parable, there was a very real wolf.

“At 67 years old, never in the United States have I seen this,” Fu said. “Never have I ever imagined this would happen.”

At Georgia State University, like so many other institutions, it is still unclear how many students have been affected. University officials did not respond to requests from GPB for information.

Valora Nail-Dupree, a graduate student at the university, organized a small group of protestors on the downtown Atlanta campus on Tuesday. The group called on the university to protect foreign-born students, and condemned any cooperation with immigration enforcement. 

“I would like to believe that they always have the interest of their international students in mind,” she said of her university. “I very much hope that's the case, and we're out here today to kind of, like, put pressure on that a little bit.” 

In the states where student visas have been cancelled, little is known about the part universities are playing. Officials at some colleges outside of Georgia have said they learned about the changes through changes made in an online database run by the Department of Homeland Security. 

But elsewhere, such as in Florida, several universities have signed 247(g) agreements with the federal government, assuring that they’ll cooperate with ICE in the interrogation and detainment of people suspected to be in the country illegally. 

Nail-Dupree said the current environment has several of her international friends and colleagues on edge. Many have spent thousands of dollars and years of their life pursuing an education, she said, and that they are hesitant to give up the life they’ve built in Georgia.

On Tuesday, these students, including those who have allegedly received emails from the school about their suspended visas, were not present. 

“We are here because they can't be,” Nail-Dupree said. 

Judge Calvert’s ruling on the plaintiff’s motion for temporary protection is not likely until at least next week.