ACLU files lawsuit on behalf of two international students at Montana State University

The ACLU of Montana filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on behalf of two Montana State University students whose international visas were revoked last week, asking a federal judge to immediately suspend the department’s actions.

As Montana Free Press reported April 11, MSU officials recently discovered during a mandatory routine check of international student records that the F-1 visas of three of its international students on the Bozeman campus had been revoked. President Waded Cruzado informed the MSU community of the situation in a brief email, which did not include any information about the impacted students. MSU Vice President of Communications Tracy Ellig told MTFP Friday that the administration had had no other contact with the federal government regarding the revocations.

“We’ve reached out to all our international students to let them know that the staff at the MSU Office of International Programs can meet with them face-to-face to discuss any concerns they might have,” Ellig wrote in a follow-up email Monday, adding MSU still has had no formal communication from the federal government regarding the recent revocations. “They are valued members of our community, and we will provide what assistance we can.”

The ACLU’s filing Monday shed further light on two of the three students whose academic records and status were terminated at MSU. Naming them only as “John Roe” and “Jane Doe,” the ACLU wrote that both students were informed by email April 10 that their international visas had been revoked and are now experiencing “immense stress” due to the uncertainty of their legal standing in the United States. According to the brief, the emails received by Roe and Doe stated that students whose visas are terminated are expected to leave the U.S. and that their unlawful presence could result in arrest, detention or deportation by federal authorities.

“Despite no criminal convictions nor immigration violations and having never participated in any protest in the United States or elsewhere, these students were told that due to the termination of their student status, they are ‘expected to depart the United States immediately,’” the ACLU of Montana wrote in a press release announcing the filing. “The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate these students’ F-1 student status, allowing them to continue their studies and avoid facing the risk of detention and deportation.”

The lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges filed across the country on behalf of international students whose visas to study in the U.S. have been revoked by the Trump administration. According to the online news outlet Inside Higher Ed, hundreds of students on more than 170 campuses nationwide are facing sudden changes to their legal status. 

In an email to MTFP Monday, University of Montana Director of Strategic Communications Dave Kuntz confirmed one student on the Missoula campus had their F-1 visa revoked last week without further communication or justification from the federal government. Kuntz added the campus has 174 international students out of a total campus population of 11,000.

“UM’s Global Engagement Office is paying close attention to the termination of education-related visas in Montana and across the country,” Kuntz wrote. “They have proactively communicated with all UM international students about the shifting procedures from the federal government, and we are confident that international students at UM understand the options available to them if a visa is terminated.”

Leanne Kurtz, spokesperson for Montana’s Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, told MTFP via email Monday the office was unaware of any other terminations on other campuses in the state’s university system. She added the office is having “weekly conversations” with leadership on Montana’s flagship campuses regarding visa revocations and other federal actions impacting their operations and is encouraging campus staff to “make sure the international students with visas are aware of the situation and ongoing developments and provide resources, information, and support.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email seeking comment on the MSU revocations, its communication with the campus or the ACLU’s lawsuit.

In its request for a temporary injunction from the U.S. District Court in Butte, the ACLU wrote that one of the two MSU students who reached out for the organization’s assistance — identified as Roe — is an Iranian citizen whose family has “already faced persecution” as members of that country’s Kurdish minority. Roe received his undergraduate degree in physics from Azad University before obtaining an F-1 visa in 2016 and attending Auburn University in Alabama, where he earned a master’s degree in experimental condensed matter physics in 2019. Roe has been pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering and physics at MSU for six years, including working as a researcher on the campus for a monthly stipend, and is only eight months away from obtaining his doctoral degree.

The ACLU argues Roe’s financial stability, academic trajectory and professional future are now imperiled by the termination of his F-1 visa. The brief further alleges that the federal government has offered Roe no explanation or details for why his visa was revoked, 

“Roe’s entire academic and professional identity is rooted in the path he built in the United States, and the possibility of losing that is devastating,” the ACLU wrote. “The sudden revocation of his visa without any additional information and the risk it engenders to his future has left him feeling overwhelmed and deeply unsettled.”

The brief also claims Roe is relying on his research stipend to help support his sister, who is currently enrolled as a graduate student in Colorado.

According to the brief, the other MSU student now being represented by the ACLU — Jane Doe — is a citizen of Turkey who first arrived in the U.S. on an F-1 visa in 2014. She completed a dual undergraduate degree at MSU in 2017 with a degree in microbiology and returned to the campus in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree, with her current research focusing on evolutionary relationships in microbial communities. Doe is scheduled to defend her graduate thesis on April 18 and graduate May 8 with a 3.98 GPA. 

The ACLU wrote that, like Roe, Doe has not received any explanation or details regarding the termination of her F-1 visa and is “scared about her safety and future.” The nonprofit has requested, among other actions, that the Department of Homeland Security be directed to reinstate both students’ visas and be prohibited from arresting, detaining or relocating either from the Butte federal court’s jurisdiction. A judge has yet to rule on the ACLU’s request for an immediate injunction and temporary restraining order.

Alex Sakariassen is  reporter for the Montana Free Press, a nonprofit newsroom, and can be reached asakariassen@montanafreepress.org.