US government responds to students’ lawsuit 

Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, the Department of Homeland Security and Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responded in opposition to a lawsuit filed by five UTRGV international students who are contesting the termination of their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.

The plaintiffs, Hugo Adrian Villar Castellanos, Shishir Timilsena, Amir Gholami, Julio Dylan Sanchez Wong and Mayra Alejandra Varela Vargas, are seeking legal remedies under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Fifth Amendment and the Declaratory Judgment Act.

The lawsuit by the plaintiffs, filed in the Southern District of Texas on April 15, alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement abruptly and unlawfully terminated the students’ SEVIS records. 

SEVIS is a government database that tracks international students’ compliance with their F-1 visa status.

The students argue that ICE lacks the authority to terminate their F-1 status, even if their visas are revoked. The plaintiffs contend that terminating a SEVIS record effectively ends a student’s F-1 status.

The defendant’s response included a statement made by ICE on April 25. 

It stated ICE is developing a policy for SEVIS-record terminations and that, until the policy is issued, SEVIS records for plaintiffs in related cases will remain active or be reactivated. 

“Through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a federal web-based system for maintaining information on nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors, UTRGV learned that all nine students whose records had been terminated were activated as of Tuesday, April 29, 2025,” sent Patrick Gonzales, vice president of University Marketing and Communications, in a statement from UTRGV in an email to The Rider Tuesday.

However, ICE retains the authority to terminate records for other reasons, such as a student’s failure to maintain nonimmigrant status or engaging in unlawful activity, according to the response filed by the defendants.

During the April 28 hearing, the students’ attorney Marlene A. Dougherty confirmed that their SEVIS records had been reactivated. 

The complaint filed by the plaintiffs states that a Department of Homeland Security policy of terminating SEVIS records based on arrests or minor infractions is being used to coerce students into leaving the country.

The plaintiffs state in their complaint that their Fifth Amendment due process rights were violated because they did not receive notice or an opportunity to respond to the termination of their SEVIS records.

In the court document filed April 28 the defendants argue that the students have not demonstrated a likelihood of success in their case and stated the plaintiffs are “not entitled to the due process of their choice.”

In addition, the defendants claimed the only facts showing that the students’ nonimmigrant status was terminated are unsubstantiated statements from UTRGV, not ICE. 

“Plaintiffs thus cannot show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims,” the defendants stated in their response.

In addition, the defendants argue in the response that modifying the plaintiffs’ status in the SEVIS database, a clerical duty performed as a preliminary matter and in accordance with federal regulations, “does not itself engender due process protections.” 

The defendants also assert that enforcing U.S. immigration law is the “sovereign prerogative of the Executive Branch.”And that Congress authorized the DHS, through ICE and the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, to collect information from approved educational institutions regarding nonimmigrant foreign students with F-1 status. 

The defendants argue that SEVP’s modification of the students’ SEVIS database records from “active” to “terminated” did not delete the records or terminate the students’ F-1 nonimmigrant status.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. held a second hearing on May 2.