ATLANTA — Immigration attorneys in Atlanta suspect the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, may have caused thousands of international students to lose their visa status over the past week.
“What we understand is that DOGE was given access to all these student records, all these visa files, and they prob ran some AI that gave them all these hits if they searched for things related to arrests or tickets or citations, and they just were able to get a batch of people,” attorney Dustin Baxter told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco.
Baxter is representing dozens of metro-Atlanta students and alumni who filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to stop the government from deporting them and reinstate their visa status.
“These people are petrified that if they speak up that ICE is going to come knocking at their door. In fact, most of the people who have come to our case have indicated to us that they are just not going to leave their house,” Baxter said.
Baxter said most of the clients in this case studied at Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, the University of Georgia and Emory. He said some studied at universities in other parts of this federal court’s district.
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He said all started losing their visas last Tuesday, and all have had some type of traffic ticket or offense.
“We all get stopped for speeding, or for running a red light, or passing a stop sign we didn’t see. That’s not a valid reason to revoke somebody’s student status,” Baxter said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta is defending the other side of the lawsuit: Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons.
Prosecutors declined to comment before the hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Chairman of the Georgia Association of College Republicans Emanuel Hernaiz told Channel 2 Action News last week he supports the Trump Administration’s decisions so far.
“I, truthfully, think if you’re a good student, you’re trying to get an education, you’re trying to do what’s best for you, your family and the country, you got nothing to worry about,” Hernaiz said.
Schools slated to lose tuition said in statements last week that they are helping however they legally can.
Baxter said the students who are working are getting the support of their employers.
“And their employers are freaking out,” Baxter said.
The first hearing in this case is scheduled for Thursday morning in Atlanta.
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