Four international students—Chinmay Deore (India), Xiangyun Bu and Qiuyi Yang (China), and Yogesh Joshi (Nepal) have filed a federal lawsuit on April 11, 2025, against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and senior immigration officials. They allege the unlawful and unexplained termination of their F-1 student visa status in SEVIS. The students are enrolled at public universities in Michigan: Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. All four claim to be in good standing academically and have not been accused of any legal or immigration violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is representing the plaintiffs and has also filed a request for an emergency injunction to prevent potential detention or deportation while the case is adjudicated. The complaint names DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and ICE Detroit Field Office Director Robert Lynch as defendants. It alleges that neither the students nor their institutions were given adequate explanation or prior notice regarding the SEVIS terminations.

The students report no criminal history and no political activity or protests that could have prompted scrutiny. The lawsuit claims the only common factor among the students was prior minimal contact with law enforcement, such as minor traffic violations or lawful visa-related decisions.

Chinmay Deore, age 21, has resided in the U.S. since childhood on an H-4 visa before transitioning to F-1 status in 2022. He is studying computer science at Wayne State University and is on track to graduate in May 2025. Xiangyun Bu and Qiuyi Yang are graduate students at the University of Michigan. Bu is pursuing a master’s in mechanical engineering, and Yang is a PhD candidate in environmental studies. Joshi, a PhD student in anatomy and cell biology at Wayne State, resides in Detroit with his wife and infant child, a U.S. citizen.

The lawsuit is part of a broader trend of legal challenges against student visa revocations under the Trump administration. Similar suits have been filed in states including Indiana, California, and New Hampshire. On April 16, 2025, a separate federal judge issued a temporary injunction preventing the deportation of Krish Lal Isserdasani, a 21-year-old at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose F-1 status was also recently revoked without detailed justification. A preliminary injunction hearing for the Michigan case is scheduled for April 28, 2025, to determine whether the students' visa statuses will be reinstated pending the outcome of the lawsuit.