CHARLESTON – Two international students at West Virginia universities who had their legal statuses and visas revoked now are back in good standing, according to the ACLU of West Virginia.
The students’ legal statuses have been restored, and they are able to resume attending classes, according to letters from their schools. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia says these developments come amid national reports that many, but not all, international students were seeing their statuses restored in the SEVIS system.
“This is positive news not just for our two clients in West Virginia, but for international students across the country,” ACLU-WV said in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, particularly the announcement that ICE will be developing new policies for revoking legal statuses.
“We want to be clear that the administration is backing down not because it’s the right thing to do, but because they have been dragged to court repeatedly and lost again and again.” Top of Form
On April 24, West Virginia University student Sajawal Ali Sohail, a 25-year-old computer science major from Pakistan, filed a lawsuit with ACLU-WV.
Sohail received an email April 10 informing him his records with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System had been terminated and his visa had been revoked because he appeared in a criminal database.
However, Sohail has never been convicted of a crime – he and his family were actually the victims of one.
In 2023, WVU police called Sohail in for questioning related to an investigation into his tuition payments. As it turned out, Sohail’s father had been duped by a scammer who offered to front the money for Sohail’s tuition. His father repaid the man as agreed, but it turned out the scammer had used stolen credit cards to make the initial payment.
Although Sohail initially was charged with the crime, the charges were dismissed and a judge ruled that he and his family were victims, not perpetrators. His family also helped federal law enforcement track down the real perpetrator.
Sohail said he is determined to graduate next month, adding that his father has spent most of his life savings on his degree. Despite his mistreatment by U.S. authorities, he said he still wants to pursue employment here.
“This has been an incredibly stressful time for me,” he said in a press release from the ACLU-WV. “I am losing my hair due to stress, I could not sleep in my own house for fear of getting arrested and deported.
“I am a good student from a good family, and I don’t deserve this. All my family and I have wanted since day 1 is to do everything the right way, the legal way, and I just want to complete my degree here in the U.S.”
On April 18, the ACLU-WV filed a similar suit on behalf of a Marshall University graduate student. On April 23, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction in that case.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. “Chuck” Chambers issued his memorandum opinion and order April 23 in the case filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia on behalf of Shival Nilesh Vyas, who recently received an email saying his F-1 visa was being revoked.
“During a time when students are supposed to be focusing on final exams, celebrating their accomplishments and searching for work opportunities, S.V. received an email … which threw his world into disarray,” the ACLU said of its April 18 filing on behalf of Vyas. “He later learned the action was being taken because he was ‘identified in a criminal records check.’”
In 2020, Vyas was charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation of operating under the influence in Indiana while studying at Purdue. He was sentenced to probation, which was terminated early as the result of good behavior and compliance.
“Having been identified in a criminal record check is not a lawful ground for termination pursuant to federal regulations,” ACLU-WV Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said. “Our client was not convicted of a crime of violence, nor was he convicted of a crime for which the potential sentence is more than one year, meaning that he categorically is not subject to termination of his F-1 status on those grounds.”
Sparks says the government has no authority to consider that misdemeanor in terminating his current visa, and even if the state did have that authority it would not be a lawful justification.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 1:25-cv-00040 (Sohail), U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 3:25-cv-00261 (Vyas)