TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Apr 14, 2025

Nine international students at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT) have had their immigration statuses changed, resulting in revoked student visas and the risk of deportation as of Friday, Knox News reports. The students are listed as “individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked.” UT discovered last week that the statuses had changed for three students and a former student working on campus. The terminations — entered directly into the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, bypassed the university’s traditional role in initiating such changes and left students without the opportunity to contest the revocations beforehand. International students across the country are now pursuing legal challenges to the SEVIS terminations, arguing the actions may violate constitutional due process protections and the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires federal agencies to provide notice and an opportunity to respond before taking adverse administrative action.