It seems the activist judge bench is back in business—and this time, they’re siding with foreign nationals over national sovereignty.
In a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s lawful crackdown on questionable international student visa cases, a federal judge in Georgia—appointed by none other than Joe Biden—has ordered the reinstatement of 133 F-1 visa holders who were flagged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That’s right: 133 foreign students who were found to be out of compliance or under legal scrutiny will now remain in the U.S., courtesy of a courtroom override.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert, siding with the ACLU and a pack of left-wing activist attorneys, issued a temporary restraining order Monday forcing DHS to retroactively reinstate these foreign nationals’ SEVIS records by 5 p.m. Tuesday. These are not isolated clerical errors. These are part of a sweeping enforcement effort to address abuses within the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which has been exploited for years as a backdoor into the U.S. labor market and a shield for visa overstays.
Judge Calvert’s decision, which reads like it was ghostwritten by a DNC staffer, claims ICE “exceeded statutory authority” in terminating SEVIS access. Apparently, enforcing immigration law now “violates the Fifth Amendment” and “causes mental distress.” Welcome to the new legal standard: emotions over enforcement.
Let’s be clear—this isn’t about law-abiding students attending classes and minding their business. Many of these individuals had flagged criminal records, overstayed their visas, or were engaged in questionable “work placements” that more closely resembled full-time employment with little academic oversight. Under President Trump’s directive, ICE and DHS were simply doing what Congress mandated: securing the homeland and cleaning up a system riddled with fraud.
This is exactly why President Trump appointed Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security and brought in law-and-order figures like Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. We’ve seen this movie before—the open borders lobby uses sympathetic-sounding plaintiffs (think: “STEM students,” “mental distress”) and activist courts to undermine every serious attempt to fix our broken immigration system.
Even more insulting? The ACLU’s lead attorney declared, “The Constitution protects everyone on American soil.” No, it doesn’t—not when it comes to immigration enforcement. Foreign nationals on student visas are here conditionally. Violate that condition and you forfeit your privilege to remain. That’s not a loophole—it’s the law.
Judge Calvert also claimed that enforcing visa rules somehow threatens the “public interest.” Really? Because Americans overwhelmingly support stricter immigration enforcement, especially when it comes to student visa fraud and visa overstays—two categories that played a central role in the September 11 attacks. Are we really supposed to ignore that history?
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has remained tight-lipped, with filings under seal. One can only hope they appeal this ruling and take it all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
The Trump administration has made it abundantly clear: the days of rubber-stamping visas for foreign nationals while American workers and students foot the bill are over. Immigration is a privilege—not a right—and the executive branch has full authority to enforce it, even if a Biden judge disagrees.
The case is now set for a preliminary injunction hearing on April 24, where the administration will have another opportunity to defend its authority to keep our borders—physical and bureaucratic—secure. Until then, the swamp strikes again.
