UT-Rio Grande Valley students caught in nationwide sweep sue Homeland Security over immigration status

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Four international students at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley are suing the Department of Homeland Security, alleging its recent steps to terminate their legal immigration status based on minor criminal cases that have already been resolved are unlawful and designed to coerce them into leaving the country voluntarily.

The students in this case are two doctoral students in physics, Hugo Adrian Villar Castellanos, of Mexico, and Shishir Timilsena, of Nepal; a doctoral student in finance, Amir Gholami, of Iran; and an undergraduate computer science student, Julio Dylan Sanchez Wong, of Mexico.

The group is among the more than 1,000 students nationwide whose status was marked as terminated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in its Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS database, in recent weeks.

Immigration attorneys have told The Texas Tribune that being marked as terminated in SEVIS can have a much more immediate effect than a visa revocation. While a visa revocation can prevent them from reentering the U.S., SEVIS removals can affect students' employment eligibility and are more difficult to appeal.

“If ICE believes a student is deportable for having a criminal record or a revoked visa, it has the authority to initiate removal proceedings and make its case in immigration court,” Marlene Dougherty, the attorney representing the students in this case, wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday. “It cannot, however, misuse SEVIS to circumvent the law, strip students of their status and drive them out of the country without process.”

Dougherty and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

In emails sent between April 7-10, UT-RGV officials informed the four students suing DHS that their legal status had been marked as terminated in SEVIS, according to the lawsuit. They all worked in some capacity for the university, which terminated their employment after their legal status changed in the SEVIS database.

All have also come into contact with law enforcement in the past.

Castellanos was given a class C misdemeanor ticket for public intoxication in 2020 and pleaded guilty to failing to yield the right of way when turning left. He paid a fine in 2024.

Timilsena was charged in 2024 with “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury” to his wife, a class A misdemeanor. The case was dismissed upon the prosecution’s request.

Gholami was charged in October with preventing or interfering with the ability to place an emergency call, a class A misdemeanor. He has not been convicted.

Wong was convicted of driving while intoxicated. His conviction was dismissed after he completed a pre-trial diversion program.

Dougherty is arguing that none of those offenses and outcomes are grounds for their SEVIS removals. She is arguing DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act by arbitrarily and capriciously terminating students’ legal status in SEVIS. She is asking a judge to order DHS to restore their legal status.

“All of the plaintiffs are valued by their university, which desires for them to continue to be enrolled in school. However, the plaintiffs’ ability to do so is in jeopardy,” she wrote.

International students at universities in Michigan and Georgia have also sued the federal government over their removal from the SEVIS database, according to news reports. In the Michigan case, a federal government official has admitted that the Department of Homeland Security does not have the legal authority to terminate students’ status — the Department of State is responsible for that, the official said — and doing so in SEVIS does not mean their visa is terminated.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

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