SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A University of California Berkeley student is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for stripping away her student visa.
Zhuoer Chen was living in Oakland and earning a master's degree in architecture at UC Berkeley when her international student F-1 visa was suddenly revoked without cause this April, attorneys said.
Chen's graduate studies focused on reconciling urban design with wildlife habitat preservation, attorneys said, and she was slated to graduate from the prestigious university next month.
The lawsuit names U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Director Todd Lyons as defendants. Chen, along with three other Asian college students who lost their visas, are being represented by Deheng Law Offices, a law firm based in Pleasanton.
In early April 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE initiated a sweeping wave of Student and Exchange Visitor Information System terminations against hundreds of international students with F-1 visas across the country.
The suit states, "Plaintiffs Zhuoer Chen, Mengcheng Yu, Jiarong Ouyang, and Gexi Guo are highly accomplished international students who have lawfully pursued advanced degrees in the United States under F-1 student status."
The lawsuit continues, "Without notice, explanation, or any form of due process, ICE terminated the student status of individuals who have done nothing more than maintaining academic standing and complying with their visa requirements."
The affected students are required to leave the country immediately, abruptly suspend their studies, and "face virtually insurmountable bars when re-entering the U.S." attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed April 11.
Chen, who is from China, arrived in California in 2017 to study civil engineering at the University of Southern California. She continued her education through graduate studies at UC Berkeley.
Visitors walk by the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley, Calif., on July 21, 2021. (Harika Maddala/ Bay City News)Plaintiff Mengcheng Yu is a master’s student in the Educational Technology and Applied Learning Sciences program at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a native of China who has lived in the U.S. since age 16, graduating from New York University before enrolling at CMU. She is set to graduate in August. "Her studies focus on the intersection of learning science and interaction design, and she hopes to build a future in education and technology," attorneys wrote.
Plaintiff Jiarong Ouyang is a Chinese national. He is a doctoral candidate in Statistics at the University of Cincinnati. Plaintiff Gexi Guo is a Chinese national who earned a Master of Science in Applied Analytics from Columbia University.
Mexican band gets work visas pulled before Bay Area showAttorneys are demanding that federal officials immediately restore the four students' visas and legal status.
The speed and scope of the federal government’s efforts to terminate the legal status of international students have stunned colleges across the country. Few corners of higher education have been untouched from private colleges, large public universities, and tiny liberal arts colleges discover status terminations one after another among their students.
Students across California State University and UC campuses had their visas revoked under the Trump administration this March and April. Six students at San Jose State University were affected by visa terminations.
A view of Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus on March 28, 2025. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Four Stanford University students lost visas, administrators told KRON. "Stanford deeply values its international community of scholars and remains committed to supporting the well-being of all members of our community. We understand that these developments may be deeply unsettling for members of our community," Stanford administrators wrote.
Many of the students losing their legal status are from India and China, which together account for more than half the international students at American colleges. But the terminations have not been limited to those from any one part of the world, lawyers said.
Some schools have told students to leave the country to avoid the risk of being detained or deported. But some students have appealed the terminations and stayed in the United States while those are processed.
Student-Visa-LawsuitDownloadThe Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not respond to messages seeking comment.
At least 1,024 students at 160 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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