A US federal judge has barred the Trump administration from deporting a 21-year-old Indian whose student visa was cancelled just weeks before he was set to graduate.
Krish Lal Isserdasani is an engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The April 15 order prevents the Department of Homeland Security from revoking the student visa or detaining Isserdasani who was expected to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in early May.
His student visa was cancelled on April 4.
The request for a temporary restraining order was brought by Madison attorney Shabnam Lotfi after Isserdasani’s record was terminated in the government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVIS) database, the report added.
“He was given no warning, no opportunity to explain or defend himself, and no chance to correct any potential misunderstanding before his F-1 student visa record was terminated in SEVIS,” the order said.
F1 visa is issued to international students who are attending an academic programme or English Language Program at a US college or university.
According to the order, Isserdasani was arrested on November 22, 2024, on suspicion of misdemeanour disorderly conduct after he and his friends got into an argument with another group of people after leaving a bar.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne declined to charge Isserdasani in the case, and he never appeared in court, the report quoted the order.
Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin handed down the order, saying Isserdasani was not convicted of a crime, and his claim of wrongful visa termination had a “reasonable likelihood of success” in the courts. He set a preliminary injunction hearing for April 28.
Lotfi said that the order is believed to be one of the first national victories for international student visa holders whose records were terminated. About 1,300 students nationwide have seen their SEVIS records terminated abruptly.
“We’re grateful that the rule of law and justice have prevailed,” Lotfi’s colleague, Veronica Sustic, said in an e-mail to the paper.
“The government has not provided any legal authority for these unlawful terminations of innocent international students’ statuses, and we are pleased that the Court saw that.” (PTI)
