An Indian PhD graduate who was studying at a university in South Dakota, whom the Trump administration has been attempting to deport, was granted an injunction by a federal judge, allowing her to stay in the country after having received her degree.
Priya Saxena’s student visa was terminated by the Trump administration in April, which would have prevented her from completing her doctoral program and graduating on 10 May.
According to court documents, Saxena’s student visa was revoked due to having a “criminal record”, but her only infraction was from a minor 2021 traffic violation – “failure to stop for an emergency vehicle” – for which she paid a small fine. According to her attorney, immigration law states the minor infraction is not a deportable offense.
Due to her visa being terminated, which was still valid until February 2027, her Student and Exchange Visitor Program (Sevis) record was deleted. The Sevis system is the Department of Homeland Security’s database to keep track of international students with visas. Due to her Sevis record being terminated, she was not allowed to continue her studies.
Saxena and her attorney sued the Trump administration in mid-April and were granted a temporary restraining order by a federal judge, allowing her to complete her doctorate and graduate this past weekend.
This week, a federal judge in South Dakota granted her a preliminary injunction, allowing her to stay in the country and blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from arresting and detaining her without court approval.
In her decision, the judge said that the DHS’s actions “appear unlawful and are likely to cause Saxena irreparable harm”.
“The rule of law saved an innocent person from unlawful action by this administration,” her attorney Jim Leach told NBC News. “Dr Saxena is exactly the kind of person we should want in this country.”
Speaking to the Guardian, Leach added: “None of this makes any sense … You think we’d want people who have PhDs in in chemical and biological engineering in this country, it can only help us. But … I guess the theory is we’re going to get rid of of foreign students who are criminals. Well, if a traffic ticket makes us a criminal, I’m not sure there’s gonna be anybody left in this country.”
Describing foreign students as “such a source of intellectual wealth” for the US, Leach went on to say: “We’ve been kind of the model for the globe in terms of [how] we can attract really smart foreign students because we have great universities, and we let people at those universities inquire and learn.”
The Trump administration has been pursuing international students throughout the country, attempting to deport them from country. Some students, such as Saxena, have been targeted by the DHS due to minor infractions. Other students, such as with the case of Mahmoud Khalil and a number of others, have had their visas revoked by the state department due to their pro-Palestinian activism.
The DHS has faced numerous legal challenges for its attempts to target international students who are in the country legally. During one hearing, the DHS revealed last month that it ran the names of more than 1 million international students through an FBI database to search for any criminal history. The search turned up 6,400 hits, which led to the DHS’s revocation of visas for about 3,000 students.
Saxena’s attorney submitted a document on Thursday seeking a permanent injunction.
• This article was amended on 16 May 2025. An earlier version said a federal judge in south Texas granted the injunction, when it was a federal judge in South Dakota.
