Those two MSU graduate students, whose F-1 visas were revoked by Homeland Security, will remain in the country until they graduate. That’s the ruling of Missoula Federal Court Judge Dana Christensen who earlier granted an emergency restraining order allowing two MSU graduate students to remain the the country pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the Montana ACLU.
Judge Christensen has further ordered that Homeland Security can’t terminate the students’ legal status without a proceeding before a judge. It also restores their Student Exchange Visitor Information System status and prohibits their arrest or removal from the country.
The students, still unidentified, plan to graduate in 2025 — one is a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and the other is working on a masters degree in microbiology.
The F-1 visa is for full-time students who have no intention of becoming U.S. citizens. They are international students who are here only for the education. At MSU, it’s estimated that 400 students from 64 countries have F-1 visas. At the University of Montana, 145 students have F-1 visas and another 29 have J-1 visas from 50 different countries.
