CINCINNATI — A University of Cincinnati doctoral student is now part of a lawsuit filed against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE director Todd Lyons.
Jiarong Ouyang and three other plaintiffs have filed the lawsuit after their F-1 student visas were revoked by ICE in April. The other three plaintiffs attend universities in California, Pennsylvania and New York.
The lawsuit claims Ouyang and the other plaintiffs were terminated from ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and their visas were revoked, despite none of them ever having been convicted of a crime.
"Without notice, explanation or any form of due process, ICE terminated the student status of individuals who have done nothing more than maintaining academic standing and complying with their visa requirement," reads the lawsuit. "Some of the affected students were arrested but never charged or convicted of any offense; others received only minor traffic citations years ago."
The lawsuit asks that the plaintiffs restore the students' F-1 visas and pay court costs. A separate motion has also been filed asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order reinstating visas for any other students found to have had their visas revoked despite having no criminal convictions on their record.
Specifically, Ouyang is a Chinese national who lawfully lived in Cincinnati before his visa was revoked, according to the lawsuit. He is a doctoral candidate in statistics at UC and has been legally living in the United States since 2012, the lawsuit says.
Since 2022, Ouyang has also worked as a graduate assistant intern at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the lawsuit says.
Ouyang was arrested in 2019 for an alleged domestic dispute, but charges against him were dismissed and he was never convicted of a crime.
"As a result of the arrest, his visa was revoked, although he remained in lawful status," reads the lawsuit. "In the wake of the dismissal, he successfully changed his status from F-1 to F-2 and later returned to F-1 status with US Citizenship and Immigration Services' approval."
An F-1 visa is issued for full-time students, while an F-2 visa is typically issued for a spouse or dependent accompanying a student; the lawsuit says Ouyang has a wife and children.
A copy of an email sent from UC to Ouyang says the reason for his termination in SEVIS was "OTHERWISE FAILING TO MAINTAIN STATUS — Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked. SEVIS record has been terminated."
UC said they were not given any additional information beyond that.
Ouyang was set to graduate with his PhD in April 2026, the lawsuit says.
"The terminations were arbitrary, capricious and otherwise not in accordance with the law," reads the lawsuit.
Noem has already filed an opposition to the motion for a temporary restraining order, asking it be dismissed.
Noem's motion says Ouyang's information was run against criminal databases, and they determined he was arrested in 2019, though records did show the charges were dismissed.
"On April 7, 2025, DHS received communications from the Department of State indicating that plaintiff Ouyang's visa was not valid and requested termination of the SEVIS record," reads a statement by Andre Watson, assistant director of Homeland Security Investigations, which was included in Noem's motion. "Based on Ouyang's criminal history, on April 8, 2025, SEVIS amended Ouyang's SEVIS record to reflect this information by setting the record designation to 'terminated'"
Still, she argues that Congress mandated the Department of Homeland Security, through ICE, to create the SEVIS database "to collect certain information from approved institutions of higher education in the United States with respect to foreign nationals seeking F-1 student status."
She writes the TPO request is being made in error, because SEVIS itself doesn't control or even reflect whether a student has a lawful nonimmigrant status.
The document filed by Noem goes on to say at this time, ICE has not charged any of the lawsuit's plaintiffs as being deportable.
Watson's statement does note that one of the plaintiffs did have their visa formally revoked on April 16, but he did not note the same for Ouyang or the other plaintiffs.
