ST. LOUIS — International college students in Missouri are challenging federal authorities in court after they said their legal status was unlawfully revoked by the Trump administration.
On Monday, five international students filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Missouri, claiming federal immigration officials terminated their student registrations “without notice and without cause.â€
Eight other international students in Missouri, including four in the St. Louis area, are part of a separate lawsuit with 133 plaintiffs filed in Atlanta on April 11.
The eight students, whose names are not provided in court documents, argue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, unlawfully terminated their legal statuses to coerce them to “self-deport.â€
The two lawsuits filed by international students across the U.S. in recent weeks. international students at U.S. colleges — and at least 27 in the St. Louis area — have seen their visas revoked or legal status terminated since late March.
People are also reading…
Some students have already secured wins.
Students in the Missouri case won a temporary restraining order on Thursday, which will temporarily bar federal officials from detaining or deporting the five students.
In the Atlanta case, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order last week requiring federal authorities to reinstate students’ F-1 student statuses.
After a Thursday hearing, U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert, a Biden appointee, was mulling whether to allow students to keep their legal statuses for the duration of the suit’s time in court.
All 133 plaintiffs saw their statuses restored by Tuesday, Atlanta-based immigration attorney Charles Kuck said, one of two attorneys who filed the Georgia lawsuit.
“This is insane,†Kuck said. “The reason why everybody’s winning these cases is because there is no process, let alone due process, and that violates the law.â€
Kansas City attorney Rekha Sharma-Crawford, who is representing the five students included in the Western District of Missouri suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The suits say students were in full compliance with the terms of their F-1 visas and had not engaged in conduct that would warrant the termination of their status.
None of the students represented by Kuck had a “deportable offense,†he said. Such offenses typically include theft, aggravated assault and domestic violence — with convictions.
“We don’t deport anybody for arrests,†Kuck said.
In court documents, students allege they’ve been targeted for much less. Some had prior immigration issues that were resolved.
The suit filed in the Western District in Missouri, of Kansas City, represents students at Truman State, Northwest Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State, the Missouri University of Science and Technology, as well as a graduate working in Kansas City.
The Georgia suit only specifies one local school by name, St. Louis University. Students’ legal statuses were removed when federal authorities deleted their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor System, or SEVIS.
The Georgia lawsuit provides these details about the St. Louis-area students:
- One student, a native of India who lives in St. Louis, was informed by the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi on April 7 that his F-1 visa was revoked. He completed his degree in December and was still in the country for Optional Practical Training, or OPT, which students can apply for after their studies to gain experience in their field. He was cited for operating a vehicle on a highway without a valid license. A judge later amended his ticket, and he was charged with a parking violation, according to the suit. He paid a fine.
- Another native of India living in St. Louis, who was approved for OPT through February 2026, had her visa revoked and SEVIS records terminated due to a charge of petty larceny/shoplifting. The case was dismissed after she paid fines and completed a certification course; no jail time was imposed, the suit states.
- An international student at SLU, also a native of India, is pursuing his master’s degree in computer and information sciences. He was set to graduate in May. No specific explanation was provided to him for why his SEVIS records were terminated, the suit states. He had a traffic offense of driving without a valid driver’s license on his record, which was resolved on June 6.
- Another student is a native of China and lives in O’Fallon. He discovered his SEVIS status had been terminated on April 9 when he went to submit a report on his OPT. He believes the termination may be related to a 2024 arrest for a “miscellaneous ordinance violation,†which was dismissed after he paid a fine, according to the suit. He also resolved a 2023 speeding ticket by paying a fine.
International students can stay in the U.S. if their visas are revoked. The termination of SEVIS records in effect removes their legal status to stay in the U.S., according to attorneys.
“Many†emails from schools, according to court documents, have directed students to leave the U.S.
The SEVIS terminations have occurred against the backdrop of numerous demands made to higher education institutions by the federal government, with the Trump administration threatening to shut-off the spigot of federal funding to universities that don’t comply.
Hundreds of college and universities presidents signed “A Call for Constructive Engagement†on Monday, sounding the alarm on “undue government intrusion.â€
St. Louis University President Fred Pestello was one of the signatories.
The visas of international students around the US are being unexpectedly revoked under the Trump administration's agenda to reduce the number of both legal and undocumented immigrants. According to universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA, the government is discreetly and abruptly terminating students’ legal residency status.
