Atlanta (AP) – Anjan Roy studied with friends at Missouri State University when he received an e -mail that turned his world upside down. His legal status as an international student had ended and he suddenly ran the risk of deportation.
“I was in literal shock, like, what the hell is this?” Said Roy, a graduate student in computer science from Bangladesh.
In the beginning he avoided going out in public, skip lessons and usually switching off his phone. A court who ruled in his favor led his status to be restored this week and he returned to his apartment, but he still asks his housemates to screen visitors.
More than a thousand international students have had to deal with similar disturbances in recent weeks, with their academic career – and their lives in the US – questioned in a widespread performance by the Trump government. Some have found a degree of success in court, with federal judges throughout the country to at least temporarily restore the legal status of students.
In addition to the case submitted in Atlanta, where Roy is one of the 133 claimants, judges have issued temporary restricted orders in states, including New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Montana, Oregon and Washington. In some other cases, judges refused similar requests and said it was not clear that the loss of status would cause irreparable damage.
International students are challenging a challenge for their withdrawal of status
State Secretary Marco Rubio said last month that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs caught up with visitors who were contrary to the national interests, including some who protested against Israel's war in Gaza and those confronted with criminal prosecution. But many affected students said they had only been involved in small violations, or it is completely unclear why they were the target.
The lawyer for Roy and his colleagues, Charles Kuck, argued that the government had no legal grounds to terminate the status of the students.
He speculated last week in court that the government is trying to encourage these students to distribute themselves and say: “The pressure on these students is overwhelming.” He said that some asked him if it was safe to leave their houses to get food, and others were worried that they would not obtain a diploma after years of work or feared that their chances of a career were shot in the US.
“I think the hope is that they will just leave,” said Kuck. “The reality is that these children are invested.”
A lawyer for the government, R. David Powell, argued that the students had not suffered considerable damage because they could transfer their academic credits or find jobs in another country.
At least 1,100 students at 174 colleges, universities and university systems have withdrawn their visas or have ended their legal status since the end of March, according to an Associated Press Review of University Statements, correspondence with school officers and judicial data. The AP works to confirm reports of hundreds of more students who are entangled in the performance.
In a lawsuit that was filed by four people on Studentvisa at the University of Iowa on Monday, lawyers describe the 'mental and financial suffering' that they have experienced. A graduate student, from India, “can't sleep and has difficulty breathing and eating,” is the lawsuit. He stopped going to school, conducting research or working as a teaching assistant. Another student, a Chinese student who expected to graduate in December, said that his withdrawn status ensured that his depression deteriorated to the point that his doctor increased his medication dosing. The student, says the lawsuit, did not leave his apartment for fear of detention.
Small violations made students goals for the harsh performance
Roy, 23, started his academic career in the state of Missouri in August 2024 as a student of the Undergraduate Computer Science. He was active in the chess club and a brotherhood and has a broad circle of friends. After graduating in December, he started working on a master's degree in January and expects to end in May 2026.
When Roy De Email received from the University about his status termination on 10 April, one of his friends offered to skip the class to go with him to the school's International Services Office, although they had a quiz in 45 minutes. The staff there said that a database control showed that his student status had ended, but they did not know why.
Roy said his only brush with the law came in 2021, when he was questioned by the campus protection after someone had engaged a dispute in a university housing building. But he said that an officer found that there was no evidence of any crime and no charges were filed.
Roy also received an e -mail from the American embassy in Bangladesh and told him that his visa had been withdrawn and that he could be held at any time. It warned that if he was deported, he could be sent to another country than his. Roy thought about leaving the US, but decided to keep talking to a lawyer.
Anxious about being in his own apartment, Roy went to his second cousin and her husband nearby.
“They were afraid that someone would pick me up from the street and take me somewhere that they wouldn't even know,” said Roy.
He usually stayed inside, turned off his phone unless he had to use it and avoided internet browsers who follow user data via cookies. His professors understood when he told them that he could not come to lessons for a while, he said.
New doubts about the future of students in the US
After the judge's order on Friday, he moved back to his apartment. He learned on Tuesday that his status had been restored and he plans to return to class. But he is still nervous. He asked his two roommates, both international students, to let him know before they open the door or someone they don't know is correct.
The recovery of the judge of his legal status is temporary. Another hearing planned for Thursday will determine whether he retains that status while the court case continues.
Roy chose the US over other options in Canada and Australia because of the research opportunities and the potential for professional connections, and he eventually wanted to teach at an American university. But now those plans are in the air.
His parents, back in Dhaka, watched the news and his 'crazy', he said. His father told him that they have family in Melbourne, Australia, including a cousin who is a university teacher there at a university. ___
AP reporters Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Hannah Fingerhut in the Moines, Iowa, contributed to this story.
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