11 more international students in Arizona sue over revoked legal status

Eleven more international students studying in Arizona have sued the Trump administration for canceling their status as foreign students in a federal database, arguing they were denied due process and seeking assurances they can safely continue their education and work without fear of deportation.

The new lawsuit comes a week after two Arizona students also filed separate lawsuits earlier this month on the same legal grounds.

Two of the 11 students in the new joint lawsuit — filed Monday in U.S. District Court — are residents of Pima County, one pursuing a bachelor’s degree and the other a doctoral degree, said attorney Matt Green, one of three Tucson lawyers on the case.

The remaining nine plaintiffs live in Maricopa County, pursuing either bachelor’s or master’s degrees, or post-graduate employment, through an optional workplace-training program available to international students, according to the complaint.

Green would not confirm whether the Pima County-based students attend the University of Arizona.

UA has been silent on how many of its international students have been affected by the Trump administration’s campaign to revoke international students’ visas and cancel their status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database, known as SEVIS. The database is managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep track of international students in the country.

Some students at the UA whose SEVIS records were canceled, and whose student visas were revoked by the State Department, have opted to “self-deport,” rather than stay in the U.S. and risk being detained, according to UA Chair of the Faculty Leila Hudson’s statements at the last Faculty Senate meeting.

In all three lawsuits filed by Tucson law firm Green Evans-Schroeder, the students requested permission to use pseudonyms, due to their fear of retaliation by the Trump administration and fear “of harassment or blacklisting by third parties,” the complaints said.

As in the two prior lawsuits, the latest case argues the SEVIS record terminations were unlawful because the Department of Homeland Security does not have the legal authority to unilaterally revoke SEVIS status without advance notice to the student, who by law should have a chance to respond.

Most of the students targeted by the Trump administration have had interactions with law enforcement in the past, even civil violations such as speeding tickets, but none of those Green has consulted with have any criminal history that would warrant a visa revocation, he said. Some have had no interaction with law enforcement, or misdemeanor charges that were later dropped, he said.

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Across the nation, at least 1,000 international students — and likely many more, attorneys say — have discovered without warning the State Department has revoked their student visa, and DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement canceled their SEVIS records.

Students have filed dozens of lawsuits in recent weeks, and many are already recording legal wins that restore their SEVIS records, at least temporarily. Some of these cases will likely make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, ultimately, Green said.

In Atlanta, 133 students have had their legal status restored for at least two weeks, under a temporary restraining order granted by a judge, according to Charles Kuck, the Atlanta immigration attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“All of our 133 clients have had their SEVIS restored and are all now back in status,” Kuck posted on X on Tuesday. “Litigation works.”

A temporary restraining order has also been granted to one of two Arizona students who sued the Trump administration earlier this month, Green said.

The revocation of a student visa doesn’t automatically cancel a student’s legal status as a foreign student; normally, even if a student’s visa is revoked, they can stay in the country to finish their studies as long as their “F-1” status as foreign students in the SEVIS database remains active, attorneys say. A student visa controls the student’s entry to the U.S., not his or her legal status as a student once they’re already here.

The Trump administration, in defending itself against the slew of student lawsuits, has begun arguing that ICE canceling a student’s record in SEVIS doesn’t actually mean the student no longer has legal status.

Attorneys disagree, saying the lack of a SEVIS record has been interpreted by another DHS agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to be a loss of legal status, regardless of what ICE says. Even university officials can’t confidently assure students that they’re safe to continue attending classes and working without an active SEVIS record, attorneys say.