Judge Orders Trump Officials To Reinstate Visas For 133 Students

ATLANTA, GA — The immigration status for more than one-hundred Georgia students must be restored per a federal judge's order to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, media reports say.

Judge Victoria M. Calvert of Georgia's Northern District gave President Donald Trump's administration until 5 p.m. Tuesday to reinstate valid immigration statuses for 133 students in Georgia, ABC News Philadelphia reported, citing a temporary federal court order.

The 14-day order was issued Friday to keep the Trump administration from withdrawing student visas after the feds were sued by the American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia, Newsweek reported.

Many of the students were in good academic standing and about to graduate before their documents were wiped without prior notice, proper explanation or an opportunity to respond, attorneys said, according to FOX News.

"The Constitution protects everyone on American soil, so the Trump administration cannot ignore due process to unjustifiably threaten students with the loss of immigration status, and arrest and deportation," Akiva Freidlin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU-Georgia, said in a statement obtained by Newsweek. "We believe this ruling shows the students are likely to prevail on their claims and we are pleased the court ordered the government to halt its unlawful actions while the lawsuit continues."

ICE was accused of illegally closing records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, ABC reported.

The Department of Human Services uses SEVIS to monitor schools, visitor programs and nonimmigrant students in the U.S., according to the ICE website.

Terminating the records made way for the students to be deported, the lawsuit alleged, ABC reported.

Students represented in the lawsuit had largely faced traffic violations before the charges were dropped; others were people who had never been arrested or cited, ABC reported.

A number of the students were close to graduation, and some of them were participants in a work program, the news outlet reported.

Next steps once the temporary order expires were not immediately known.