Student Visa Revocations, ICE Policy Targeted in Updated Lawsuit

The State Department’s mass revocation of student visas in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security was unlawful and should be set aside, an amended lawsuit argues.

The revised class action, filed Thursday, separately claims that a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy on the termination of students’ records from a federal database violated notice-and-comment requirements.

The termination of those records, which threatened the lawful status and work authorization of thousands of affected students, is at issue in dozens of lawsuits in courts across the country. However, those cases have previously refrained from challenging revocations of F-1 visas by the State Department, which are generally not seen as subject to judicial review.

Government attorneys said last week that ICE would reactivate the records of students involved in litigation while it crafted a new policy on removals from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database. Records later produced in court hearings showed that the record terminations stemmed from a “Student Criminal Alien Initiative” at DHS that involved a back-and-forth between that agency and the State Department.

The new ICE policy circulated this week cited visa revocation as grounds for termination from the database, leaving students vulnerable and reversing “decades of policy without any reasoned consideration or formal rulemaking,” the updated lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia argues.

The coordinated actions by the agencies were arbitrary and capricious and, therefore, the moves by each agency involved must be set aside, it says.

The class action was originally filed April 11 on behalf of more than 130 plaintiffs challenging SEVIS terminations. The court granted a temporary restraining order last month and plaintiffs are now seeking a preliminary injunction in the case. The State Department was added as a defendant in the amended complaint.

A student’s visa is separate from their lawful status under the F-1 program. A canceled visa would mean a student must re-apply after traveling outside the US.

But termination from the SEVIS database put their continued lawful status in doubt, leading to the litigation. Those suits hadn’t sought to reverse the loss of visas before because of case law shielding the State Department from court review.

Although consular officials can revoke student visas, the Immigration and Nationality Act denies the secretary of state the authority to do so and the statute does not provide for the mass revocation of visas, the new complaint argues.

“Congress did not delegate the power [to] the Secretary of State to simultaneously terminate thousands, or all, nonimmigrant visas,” it said. “Had Congress done so, Congress would have violated the non-delegation doctrine by providing the Secretary of State with the unfettered discretion to simultaneously cancel all visas whenever he or she felt the urge to do so.”

Plaintiffs are represented by Kuck Baxter LLC, Bless Litigation, Siskind Susser, and Joseph & Hall PC. DHS is represented by the Department of Justice.

The Homeland Security and State Departments didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Doe v. Bondi, N.D. Ga., No. 1:25-cv-01998, amended complaint filed 5/1/25.