A federal judge in Georgia has temporarily stepped in to halt what many saw as an alarming wave of visa cancellations. On April 18, the court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) asking the US Department of Homeland Security to immediately restore the SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records of 133 international students. This came after the students faced abrupt terminations from the immigration database—terminations that lawyers say were done without due process or clarity.
SEVIS is the official record system for international students and exchange visitors in the US. If your record is terminated, your legal status in the country is gone with it—often leaving students just days to either leave the country or scramble for legal help.
The issue surfaced after the US Department of State and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revoked the visas of thousands of international students and terminated their SEVIS records. This could have led to many of them being deported or forcibly removed from the country.
Attorneys have raised serious concerns about the process, stating that students received vague letters with no clear reasons, no proper explanation, and no outlined rules that justified the terminations. A few students only discovered their records had been terminated when their employers or schools flagged it.
According to data cited by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, ICE cancelled nearly 4,736 SEVIS records since January 20, 2025. Shockingly, about 50% of these students were Indian nationals.
A large number of those affected were on F-1 visas—non-immigrant student visas that allow international students to study in US institutions. More specifically, many were on OPT (Optional Practical Training), a work authorisation programme for recent graduates, particularly in STEM fields. The OPT programme allows students to work in the US for up to 36 months and is often seen as a pathway toward the H-1B visa.
What raised more eyebrows was the nature of the reasons behind these terminations. According to case documents and legal representatives, some students lost their visa status over issues as minor as unpaid traffic tickets or minor breaches of university codes.
In one instance, a student was removed from the SEVIS system because they were listed as a victim in a domestic violence police report. Out of 327 cases examined by lawyers, only two were linked to political activity—undermining any narrative that this was about national security.
For now, the court’s order is temporary. It protects the 133 students named in the filing, at least until further hearings are held. The judge has also barred the US government from using or disclosing the students’ personal information outside the scope of the lawsuit.
This doesn’t mean everyone affected will be reinstated automatically. But it does put the spotlight on ICE’s handling of international student records and brings some breathing room for the students involved.
