Federal Judge Rules Trump Administration Must Reinstate Legal Status of OSU Student Amid Visa Dispute

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate the legal status of an Ohio State University (OSU) graduate student whose visa was revoked following his arrest at a 2024 anti-Israel protest. Ahwar Sultan, a student from India, filed a civil lawsuit in the D.C. District Court on April 15, alleging that his F-1 student visa was unlawfully terminated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his participation in protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Sultan was arrested during an April 25, 2024, protest on the OSU campus. His attorneys claim that the charges were dismissed and subsequently expunged from his record. However, shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department had revoked the visas of hundreds of foreign students, Sultan was informed by OSU administrators that his legal status was no longer active.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the Trump administration must immediately reinstate Sultan‘s visa and cannot modify his record solely based on his arrest at the protest. The judge’s decision ensures that Sultan‘s legal status is restored while allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to present its reasoning for the status change at a later hearing. Additionally, the hearing will determine if DHS intends to initiate removal proceedings against him.

The lawsuit, filed by Sultan and the Students for Justice in Palestine at OSU, names several high-profile officials, including former President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE Director Todd Lyons. Sultan is among at least a dozen OSU students whose visas have recently been revoked.

This ruling follows a similar decision by a federal judge in Georgia, who ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the legal statuses of 133 international students whose F-1 visas were revoked by ICE and DHS. OSU has not yet responded to inquiries from Fox News Digital regarding the case.

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