Immigration crackdown: Indian, Chinese students sue Trump administration over mass F-1 visa revocations

As Donald Trump doubles down on his second-term immigration crackdown, five international students — three Indian and two Chinese — are taking the fight to court. United by a shared disruption of their academic lives, the group has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration in the US District Court of New Hampshire, challenging what they call the unlawful termination of their F-1 student visas.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed the lawsuit on the students’ behalf, accusing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of stripping lawful visa status from “hundreds, if not thousands” of international students without due process.

“The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate the status of these students so that they will be able to complete their studies and avoid facing the risk of detention and deportation,” the ACLU said in a statement.

The Indian students leading the charge — Manikanta Pasula, Linkhith Babu Gorrela, and Thanuj Kumar Gummadavelli — are all enrolled at Rivier University in New Hampshire. Gorrela, who is pursuing his master's degree, said the sudden visa revocation has blocked him from graduating on May 20. Without his degree, he cannot apply for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, a key pathway for international students to work in the U.S. post-graduation.

Pasula and Gummadavelli are in similar straits, with just one semester left before graduation. Both fear their careers and immigration prospects will collapse if the court doesn’t act swiftly.

The two Chinese students in the lawsuit, Hangrui Zhang and Haoyang An, are facing steep financial setbacks. Zhang has lost his research assistantship — his only source of income — while An may be forced to abandon his education altogether, despite having already invested over $329,000 in his US education.

In the lawsuit, the students argue they’ve met every legal requirement: they maintained academic standing, avoided unauthorised employment, and have no criminal records. They now seek a court order to reinstate their legal status, warning that failure to do so will push them toward detention, deportation, and devastating academic and financial losses.