A Georgia judge has ordered the reinstatement of visas of 133 international students, including many Indian nationals, and barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from continuing deportation proceedings against them.
In a temporary restraining order issued on April 18, Judge Victoria M. Calvert of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ordered the government to reinstate the 133 plaintiffs’ statuses on the Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) system, thereby reversing any terminations the government had issued since March 31.
The TRO will be in place for two weeks from the date of the court’s order. The case will now be heard for a preliminary injunction, potentially offering longer-term relief thisweek, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union-Georgia which filed the case.
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“The Constitution protects everyone on American soil, so the Trump administration cannot ignore due process to unjustifiably threaten students with the loss of immigration status, and arrest and deportation,” said Akiva Freidlin, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU-Georgia. We believe this ruling shows the students are likely to prevail on their claims and we are pleased the court ordered the government to halt its unlawful actions while the lawsuit continues.”
According to data from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Indian students were most affected by visa revocations.Of 327 such cases reviewed by AILA, nearly 50% involved Indian nationals.
Most of these students were on F-1 visas, with many participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program—a temporary employment authorization pathway often used by graduates in STEM fields as a stepping stone to H-1B work visas. Loss of OPT status would mean they can’t pursue employment in the U.S.
In total, ICE has terminated 4,736 SEVIS records since January 20, according to AILA. While the majority of revocations were attributed to minor legal infractions—such as traffic citations, university policy violations, or even being listed as victims in domestic violence cases—only two of the 327 reviewed cases were explicitly tied to political activism.