A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction stopping the Trump administration from revoking the legal status of foreign students studying in the United States. The ruling, delivered on Thursday by US District Judge Jeffrey White of the federal court in San Francisco, marks a significant setback for the administration’s efforts to clamp down on international students as part of President Donald Trump’s broader immigration enforcement agenda.
The legal dispute centers around the administration’s sweeping attempt to interfere with the SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records of non-citizens present in the U.S. on education visas. These modifications to the SEVIS database threatened the students’ ability to remain in the country legally, thereby putting them at risk of deportation.
The SEVIS system, managed by the Department of Homeland Security, serves as a database that tracks the immigration status of international students and is essential for universities to monitor their enrollment and legal standing. In a controversial move that began in April, the Trump administration initiated the cancellation of SEVIS records for thousands of these students, potentially rendering them undocumented.
Although the administration retreated from this effort last month in response to mounting legal opposition, Judge White determined in his decision that the threat of future arbitrary cancellations remains. In his ruling, he stated, “He does not find it speculative to conclude that, in the absence of an injunction, the administration would abruptly re-terminate SEVIS records without notice.”
White, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, emphasized that the actions undertaken by the administration had far-reaching and disruptive consequences. “The administration’s actions,” he wrote, “uniformly wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues to do so.”
The lawsuit was initiated by a group of international students who had experienced sudden and unexplained changes to their SEVIS records. These changes led to their legal status being jeopardized, with the students asserting that the administration had acted without following proper legal procedures.
Judge White agreed with their claims, indicating that the students were likely to succeed in their argument that the administration’s actions breached federal rule-making protocols. He characterized the actions as “arbitrary and capricious,” terms that carry significant legal weight in administrative law.
He also dismissed any suggestion by the government that these students posed a danger to the public or to national security. “Defendants do not suggest that these individuals pose an immediate safety threat or that they pose a threat to national security,” he wrote. “In contrast, Plaintiffs have shown that Defendants likely exceeded their authority and acted arbitrarily and capriciously in those enforcement efforts, and the ‘public interest is served by compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act.’”
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is a foundational statute in U.S. administrative law that governs how federal agencies develop and enforce regulations. The judge’s reference to the APA underscores the administration’s failure to follow due process when attempting to alter or terminate the SEVIS records of foreign students.
The preliminary injunction issued by Judge White means that the federal government must cease any further attempts to change or cancel international students’ legal status via the SEVIS system without first following the appropriate procedural steps. His decision provides temporary relief to international students across the country who faced the risk of deportation due to abrupt and unexplained changes to their legal status.
This development is just the latest in a series of legal battles over the Trump administration’s handling of immigration matters, particularly as they pertain to education and student visas. During his time in office, Trump frequently advocated for stricter immigration policies, often targeting international students as part of a broader narrative emphasizing national security and economic protectionism.
The injunction also brings attention to the significant role that international students play within the U.S. higher education system. Universities rely heavily on SEVIS to manage the legal and academic status of their foreign enrollees, and any abrupt change to the system can create significant confusion and fear.
In this instance, many universities were left scrambling to understand and respond to the cancellations, which were often issued without explanation. The affected students found themselves in precarious situations, sometimes with little warning or opportunity to appeal the decision.
According to White, the government’s failure to justify these cancellations or to provide a meaningful process for students to respond only compounded the harm. “In contrast, Plaintiffs have shown that Defendants likely exceeded their authority and acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” he wrote, reinforcing the argument that the administration sidestepped established legal norms.
While the decision is currently limited to a preliminary injunction—meaning the final outcome of the case remains to be decided—it sets an important legal precedent for how student visa records should be handled. The ruling sends a strong signal that executive agencies must operate within the confines of the law, especially when taking actions that could severely disrupt the lives of thousands of people.
Legal experts suggest the ruling could have lasting implications for how future administrations approach visa enforcement, particularly when dealing with non-citizens enrolled in academic institutions. The judge’s insistence on following rule-making protocols under the APA highlights the judiciary’s role in checking executive power and ensuring that government agencies cannot act with unchecked discretion.
The ruling also highlights how legal action can serve as an effective countermeasure against sudden and potentially unlawful government policies. For the international students who brought the case forward, the decision offers not only temporary relief but also a measure of validation for their claim that they were treated unfairly by the system.
In conclusion, Judge Jeffrey White’s ruling represents a meaningful check on the Trump administration’s immigration policy by affirming that federal procedures and the rights of individuals cannot be cast aside arbitrarily. His order to block the cancellation of SEVIS records serves to protect international students who came to the U.S. to study and underscores the importance of legal consistency and due process in administrative actions.