WA international students file class action over Trump revocations

Nine more current and former international students filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the Trump administration for revoking their lawful status in the U.S.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons. It brings the total number of students and recent graduates in Washington suing the administration for revoking their legal status up to at least 15. All of the legal status terminations, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, are based on the students being in a law enforcement or criminal data system, often as a result of fingerprinting. Some of them had criminal charges dismissed or committed crimes as minor as shoplifting, according to the lawsuit.

Several other higher education students in Washington sued the Trump administration last week, similarly alleging the terminations were arbitrary. Court documents detail how students have learned their status was terminated from a federal database known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS for short. Generally, removal from the database effectively terminates legal status in the U.S. The federal government has argued in court filings that it has authority over the database, and said in a response to a similar case that it’s “speculative” whether terminations in SEVIS could lead to detainment or removal proceedings.

A SEVIS record is typically terminated if a student dropped below the necessary course load without approval or did unauthorized work. It is usually the university, not the government, that terminates the record. Students can then apply for reinstatement.

The Trump administration’s onslaught of SEVIS terminations as a tool in its war on immigration has affected as many as 4,800 people. These terminations have come from the federal government rather than the students’ institutions, and instead of the government telling universities when it has terminated a student record, university staff are often finding out on their own by checking the database.

The students and alumni are filing the class action lawsuit not just on behalf of themselves, but any other person facing similar circumstances throughout the U.S. The plaintiffs in Wednesday’s lawsuit are all identified under the pseudonyms “John Roe” or “Jane Roe,” as many fear the stigma surrounding alleged criminal misconduct, according to the complaint. They allege the government is violating people’s due process rights and asks the court to find that any similar terminations are void.

Jay Gairson, an attorney representing the 9 students and alumni, said there are likely other cases not being made public.

“Many of those students that have been terminated do not have the financial capability or comfort with the U.S. legal system to stand up and challenge these unlawful actions,” Gairson said.

In Washington, at least 23 recent graduates and international students at UW have had their status terminated. Students at Washington State University, Central Washington University, and Seattle University have also been affected.

Federal law states a student can fall out of legal status if that student is convicted of a crime of violence for which a sentence of more than one year may be imposed — a condition that does not seem to apply to any of the students currently suing the government.

Two of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were never charged with a crime. One was acquitted by a jury. Three were charged but have not been convicted.

One John Roe, a citizen of South Korea enrolled in a doctoral program at UW, was fingerprinted in relation to a criminal charge in 2024, according to the lawsuit. The charge is not described in the lawsuit, which states a jury returned a unanimous not guilty verdict in April. Four days later, the government terminated his SEVIS record.

Another UW student completing his Bachelor of Science degree was fingerprinted in connection with an arrest in 2022 that was later dismissed for lack of evidence, the complaint states. A Seattle Central College student from Bangladesh was fingerprinted in connection with a shoplifting charge that was later dropped. One woman who is completing her studies at a King County high school had an interaction with law enforcement as a minor, but she was never charged with an offense.

“Defendants have not performed even a cursory review of the specific facts of Plaintiffs’ cases as would be necessary to determine if … (it) has any bearing whatsoever on Plaintiffs’ legal status,” the lawsuit states.

Typically, students have a right to notice when their SEVIS record is terminated and are given an opportunity to respond. When a student’s record is terminated, they are not able to continue their degree programs, and they can’t make other arrangements to remain in the country lawfully.

“Every person who is physically present in the United States, whether they’re a citizen or an immigrant or a nonimmigrant, is owed due process of law,” Gairson said. “Currently, the federal government is not consistently giving people due process, especially foreign nationals that are present in the United States, and the government needs to take a deep hard look at themselves.”

Last week, a federal judge in Tacoma ordered the government to temporarily reinstate a University of Washington student’s legal status, blocking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining or deporting him. That same judge, Chief U.S. District Judge David Estudillo, is expected to make rulings in three similar cases later this week.

“It does not appear, at least on its face right now, that the government has followed its own regulations,” Estudillo said in court last week.