Federal Judge Grants Temporary Restraining Orders for Detained International Students

Federal judges have recently issued temporary restraining orders allowing several international students facing deportation to remain in the U.S. while their cases are reviewed. In Vermont, a judge ordered that Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia student arrested during his citizenship interview, must stay in the state to prevent jurisdictional disputes. Similarly, a Marshall University graduate student and a Dartmouth College student were granted permission to remain in the country after legal status revocations, with the ACLU representing the Marshall student and a hearing set for further review. At UW-Madison, a judge restored a Chinese student's visa, ruling that the administration's revocation due to a speeding ticket was arbitrary and not grounds for deportation, and also blocked the deportation of another student facing a misdemeanor charge that never went to court. These cases highlight judicial pushback against administrative efforts to deport students over relatively minor legal infractions.