CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge said Wednesday she will grant a temporary restraining order to protect a doctoral student at Dartmouth College whose student status was abruptly terminated by the federal government without notice or explanation.
Xiaotian Liu, 26, a Chinese citizen, has been studying computer science at the Ivy League school since 2023. His attorneys say he hasn’t committed any crimes and hasn’t even engaged in any protests, so it’s unclear why he’s been targeted.
International students at other colleges and universities have also recently had their student statuses terminated in similar fashion. Advocates said there appear to be hundreds of students at schools across the country impacted by actions taken in early April, putting them all at risk of potential detention and deportation by immigration authorities.
“I can only imagine how the hundreds of other students who are similarly situated, how they feel being placed in that situation with that prospect of detention,” said Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, one of the law firms representing Xiaotian in this case.
“These are real human beings,” Bissonnette added. “They’re part of our communities. ... We’re dealing with students who are just trying to follow the rules, that have done nothing wrong yet are caught in this vast web.”
Bissonnette said he is aware of lawsuits similar to Xiaotian’s having been filed recently on behalf of plaintiffs in California and Pennsylvania. This case in New Hampshire appears to be among the first in which a judge has agreed to grant some form of relief.
Judge Samantha D. Elliott, who sits in the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire, held an emergency hearing Wednesday morning during which an attorney from the US attorney’s office presented minimal information regarding the details of Xiaotian’s situation.
Assistant US Attorney Raphael Katz said he couldn’t confirm whether federal officials had terminated Xiaotian’s student status intentionally or inadvertently. He said he is working with legal counsel from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to gather details.
As a result of the change in Xiaotian’s status, Dartmouth officials indicated they would have to bar him from continuing his research, according to his attorneys. He would be allowed to enroll in non-research courses, but he wouldn’t be able to perform the work for which he was being compensated, nor would he be able to make progress on his PhD requirements. In the meantime, there is the risk that ICE agents might take him into custody for unclear reasons.
“He is sitting in fear in his residence,” said SangYeob Kim, an ACLU senior staff attorney.
In light of the information and arguments presented at this early stage in the litigation, Elliott said she would grant the short-term relief Xiaotian’s attorney’s requested, including blocking the federal defendants from terminating his F-1 student status in the Student and Exchange Visitor System database. That should signal to Dartmouth that Xiaotian can continue his research.
The order will remain in effect for no more than two weeks, so the parties are expected to return to court later this month with more substantive arguments.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.