 "US wanted to deport Indian scholar Priya Saxena for traffic violation, court blocked the move")
An Indian PhD scholar was on the brink of getting deported from the US. Her fault? She violated traffic rules in 2021. Priya Saxena, a student who just received her PhD in South Dakota, was saved from the Department of Homeland Security’s order to deport her, after a federal court granted her a preliminary injunction protecting her from being forced to leave the US.
Saxena has been living in South Dakota for studies under an F-1 Visa, which is valid till 2027. But, to her surprise, the visa was revoked last month over a minor traffic violation in 2021. She received a notification from the US Embassy in New Delhi, and her Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which said that her visa had been terminated, threatening her ability to receive her degree.
How Saxena’s lawyer turned the tables
Saxena’s attorney presented a strong case before the court, which compelled it to pronounce an order in her favour.
Her attorney, Jim Leach, stated that Saxena had already disclosed the incident during her visa application, and immigration officials approved her entry after reviewing the information. Although she was initially suspected of a DUI in 2021, the charges were dropped following a blood test, and these details were known at the time her visa was reissued.
In an interview with NBC, Leach said, “The government reissued her visa and then comes back three and a half years later and says, ‘Oh, wait a minute. Get out of the country now. It just makes no sense.”
Saxena’s legal challenge claimed that the Department of Homeland Security violated the Administrative Procedure Act and her Fifth Amendment due process rights by revoking her SEVIS status without prior notice or a chance to respond.
The court first issued a temporary restraining order allowing her to graduate, and on Thursday, it extended that protection with a preliminary injunction, permitting her to stay in the US and apply for Optional Practical Training (OPT).
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