ACLU-WV sues after Marshall student’s visa 'unlawfully' revoked
The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit alleging Trump administration officials unlawfully revoked their client’s student visa.
EDIT: On Wednesday, April 23, Judge Robert Chambers issued a temporary restraining order restoring the student’s visa. For the full story, click here.
CHARLESTON – The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia announced Friday the filing of a federal lawsuit alleging their client’s Fifth Amendment right to due process was violated when his visa was revoked by Trump administration officials earlier this month.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in Huntington, names Kristi Noem, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Todd Lyons, Acting Director of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and Pam Bondi, Attorney General of the United States, as Defendants.
Plaintiff S.V., a 28-year-old Indian national, received a letter on April 8, 2025 informing him that his F-1 nonimmigrant student visa–a permit for noncitizens to enter the United States as a full-time student–was rescinded after his name was “identified in a criminal records check.”
In 2020, S.V. was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence–a misdemeanor offense. In September of that year, S.V. was sentenced to probation. By January 2021, his probation was terminated “based on the recommendation of his probation officer,” the lawsuit reads.
In June 2023, S.V. applied for and was granted an F-1 visa to study at Marshall University.
“He disclosed the previous charge when re-applying, satisfied all requirements, and was permitted to re-enter the country under the new visa,” an ACLU-WV press release accompanying the lawsuit read. “He was in the process of applying for post-graduate work in the United State when he received the email ending his status.”
The lawsuit alleges that S.V.’s visa was terminated unlawfully.
“Having been identified in a criminal record check is not a lawful ground for termination pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 214.1(e)-(g),” the filing reads. “Students fail to maintain their F-1 student status when they do not comply with the regulatory requirements of F-1 status, such as failing to maintain a full course of study…engaging in unauthorized employment, or other violations under 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(f).”
The lawsuit asks the Court to restore S.V.’s visa, prohibit his arrest, detention or transfer out of the Court’s jurisdiction and vacate the Trump administration’s “policy and/or pattern-and-practice of unilaterally terminating a student’s F-1 student status…for reasons that do not rise to the level required for termination.”
S.V. said the experience has upended his education and career plans.
“I desperately want to complete my graduate degree and pursue work in the United States,” S.V. said. “It is clear this wasn’t a decision based on my circumstance or experience–this was a predetermined outcome and they just said whatever needed to be said to justify it, even when it didn’t apply to me.”
Aubrey Sparks, ACLU-WV Legal Director and lead counsel for S.V., said the decision to deny her client the ability to finish his degree is fundamentally unfair.
“Like so many other promising international students, he has traveled far, studied hard, paid top-touch tuition into the United States economy, and immersed himself into a foreign culture, only to be denied the credentials he has worked so hard to achieve right at the finish line,” Sparks said.
The federal government has revoked the visas of nearly 1,500 international students and graduates since President Donald Trump took office in January, reports Al Jazeera. Several have been targeted for their participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or for showing support for Gaza on social media. Others, like S.V., were targeted for “minor legal infractions.”
In West Virginia, nine West Virginia University students and one Marshall University student had their student visas revoked or their records terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System–a web-based system used to maintain information on nonimmigrant students in the U.S–in recent weeks, reports The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
West Liberty University and Bethany College confirmed to Wheeling Free Press that no international students on their campuses have been impacted by the recent mass-visa terminations. Wheeling University did not respond to our inquiry.