New Mexico Tech doctoral student challenges Homeland Security’s termination of his student status

A graduate student from the Republic of Ghana studying in central New Mexico says the U.S. government’s termination of his student status violates federal law and his constitutional right to due process.

The doctoral student and research assistant, identified only as K.O.D. in court records, moved to Socorro in August 2023, where he has been studying petrochemical engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, according to court records. He received his bachelor’s degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in his home country and his master’s at the Politencnico di Torino in Italy, his attorneys wrote.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on April 9 abruptly terminated the student’s status in the Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) system, court records state. This means he faces potential immigration detention and deportation, his attorneys wrote.

“Losing my F-1 status puts my education, research, and career trajectory at risk, and I fear being forced to leave the country before I can complete my Ph.D. program,” the student wrote in a sworn statement included in court records. “This sudden disruption has made me feel vulnerable and anxious, not only about my immediate situation but also about the stability and direction of my life in the years to come.”

The student is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Shayne Huffman, an Albuquerque-based civil rights attorney, who on Wednesday filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Both filings name Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons as defendants.

The motion for a temporary restraining order asks the court to block Noem and Lyons from terminating the student’s F-1 student status under the Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) system.

“At the most elemental level, the United States Constitution requires notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” his attorneys wrote. “No such process was provided here with respect to the termination of student status.”

Huffman told Source NM the government hasn’t put forward any evidence to justify terminating his client’s student status.

“We believe that there can be no more egregious violation of someone’s due process than what has happened to our client, and for the other students that this has happened to as well,” Huffman said.

As of Thursday, the U.S. government has changed the legal status of more than 1,800 international students at more than 280 colleges and universities, including at least 10 in New Mexico, according to Inside Higher Ed.

DHS didn’t notify the New Mexico Tech student or his school, his attorneys wrote. He learned about the agency’s action against him when the school’s international programs coordinator informed him that they had discovered his student status had been terminated.

The reason given on the record of termination was “OTHER – Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their VISA revoked,” according to a copy included in the restraining order motion.

However, the student has no criminal record, “without even minor infractions such as a traffic or parking violation,” has shown no violence in the U.S. or elsewhere and hasn’t participated in any protest either in-person or online, his attorneys wrote. Huffman said he has never faced any disciplinary action from the school whatsoever.

“It’s entirely unclear to us as to why he was targeted,” Huffman said.

Source NM left a voicemail for a New Mexico Tech spokesperson, and we will update this story as necessary.

DHS has effectively disenrolled the student from his Ph.D. program and he can no longer work as a research assistant, which puts him in financial jeopardy because his financial aid, which is contingent on participation in the Ph.D. program, has been suspended, Huffman and ACLU-NM Senior Staff Attorney Becca Sheff wrote.

The status termination also prevents him from making progress in his doctoral program and obtaining his Ph.D., his attorneys wrote.

Twelve days after the student learned about DHS’ action, the school gave him a notice of “Graduate Contract Change or Cancellation,” saying his graduate contract was being terminated due to “immigration status currently revoked” by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

His attorneys wrote he likely accrues unlawful presence in the U.S. each day, which threatens his chance of reinstating his F-1 student status in the future.

The student is not challenging the revocation of his F-1 visa but, rather, is challenging DHS’s unlawful termination of his F-1 student status in the SEVIS system, his attorneys wrote. An F-1 student visa refers only to the document an immigrant student receives to enter the U.S., while F-1 student status refers to students’ formal immigration classification in the U.S. once they enter the country, they wrote.

The student lawfully obtained a visitor visa to attend a petroleum engineers’ conference in the U.S. in 2016 but customs officials didn’t let him in for five years.

“Just as the 2016 denial did not prevent Plaintiff from lawfully obtaining an F-1 visa in 2023, it cannot now serve as a legitimate basis for terminating his current status,” his attorneys wrote.

The student’s research is his passion and he has dedicated his entire life for the last two years to it, Huffman said, having authored or co-authored at least half a dozen publications and traveled the country to present at academic conferences.

“We’re a state that’s so reliant on energy, and he’s pushing forward the research in an area that directly impacts the state,” Huffman said.

Huffman said there are other Ghanaian students at New Mexico Tech. The school in October 2023 entered into an agreement with the student’s former school in Ghana to strengthen their petroleum engineering programs.

“With all the students that this is happening to, international students ultimately are a net positive for this country,” Huffman said. “They’re here to contribute in meaningful ways. They’re here to push research forward in the sciences or any other field. Our country and our state are better off with these international students here making their contributions.”