On August 22, 2025, in a series of SEVIS‑related immigration cases brought by Van Der Hout LLP and co-counsel, Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California denied the government’s motion to stay the nationwide scope of the preliminary injunction he issued on May 22, which enjoined ICE’s arbitrary termination of thousands of international students’ SEVIS records and required that all SEVIS records be restored. ICE’s unlawful decision to arbitrarily terminate SEVIS records had severely disrupted students’ education, employment, and legal status.

In Judge White’s ruling denying the government’s motion to stay, the Court rejected the government’s argument that CASA v. Trump prevented nationwide relief, emphasizing that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) permits broad, nationwide equitable relief to avert irreparable injury and that the balance of harms and the public interest still favor plaintiffs. This decision means international students nationwide remain protected from arbitrary efforts by the Trump administration to terminate their SEVIS records and concomitant F-1 nonimmigrant status.

In other related news, on September 3, 2025, Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated approximately $2.2 billion in federal research grants to Harvard University, finding that the funding cuts were retaliatory, ideologically motivated, and violated the First Amendment, the APA, and Title VI of the Higher Education Act. Judge Burroughs concluded that the administration had used alleged concerns over antisemitism on campus as a pretext, rather than a genuine basis, to pressure Harvard into policy changes unrelated to the funded research. The decision vacated the freeze and termination of grants and barred the administration from repeating such measures. The government has stated it intends to appeal the decision.

In both the SEVIS and Harvard cases, the courts reaffirmed that executive actions in the realm of immigration and education must comply with the law and that the administration’s continued attacks on international students and academic institutions are unlawful.