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oregonlive.com / Updated: May. 12, 2025, 11:19 a.m. / |Published: May. 09, 2025, 5:58 p.m.
By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Link to this article on the OregonLive.com Website [here]

In a 13-page written ruling, U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane replaced his temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction

A federal judge on Friday extended a temporary order, barring the U.S. government from “arbitrarily” terminating the legal status of two international students studying at universities in Oregon.

U.S. District Michael J. McShane said he considered the Oregon case in the “broader context” of the Trump administration’s “unceasing attempts to remove noncitizens from the country.”

While the government did reinstate the visa status of hundreds of foreign students after legal challenges, the government has not “repudiated the prior decision,” McShane wrote in a 13-page opinion.

“Deafening silence has been the only response by the Defendants in explaining, let alone justifying, the actions taken here,” the judge wrote.

McShane said he finds “it impossible to trust that” the government won’t tamper with the students’ legal status again, absent a court order, while the students’ lawsuits are pending in court.

Aaron Ortega Gonzalez, a 32-year-old Mexican citizen, is seeking his doctorate at Oregon State University in Corvallis. He is a wildlife scientist who also was working as a graduate assistant at the school.

A 29-year-old graduate student from Britain, identified as Jane Doe in court papers, attends the University of Oregon in Eugene, where she is pursuing master’s degrees in conflict resolution and journalism and had expected to graduate this June.

Ortega Gonzalez and Doe learned from their respective universities that their student status had been “terminated” in early April in the federal database called the Student Exchange Visitor Information System.

Homeland Security Investigations later said in court papers that Ortega Gonzalez had an unspecified encounter with U.S. Customs and Border Control in 2014, seven years before he was granted a student visa to study at Oregon State University. A government attorney, under questioning from McShane, said he didn’t have any information about the encounter.

Doe had a prior arrest, according to the judge’s ruling.

She first attended Brigham Young University for undergraduate classes but transferred to the University of Nevada Las Vegas to escape an abusive relationship, McShane wrote in his decision. Her ex-partner followed her to Las Vegas and called police to have her arrested at one point, but charges against her were dropped, the ruling said.

After the government terminated the students’ status, Ortega Gonzalez had to pause his research on restoring Oregon rangelands affected by wildfires while Doe was unable to attend a class trip to Washington, D.C., related to her conflict resolution thesis.

Ortega Gonzalez believed he was at serious risk of arrest and deportation, according to the judge’s opinion.

Both lost work and income, McShane wrote.

Once the government restored their status on April 23, Ortega Gonzalez was able to complete planned repairs on a damaged weather station to continue his research and Doe resumed her studies and work as a teaching assistant but may not be able to graduate in June because of the interruption, according to the opinion.

The judge noted that that public interest “weighs in favor of allowing Mr. Ortega Gonzalez to continue his research on restoration of Oregon rangelands affected by wildfires and Ms. Doe to continue her studies to promote civic engagement, community dialogue, and social cohesion.”

McShane ordered the government to give the students and the court a 15-day notice of any future “intent to terminate” their status.

McShane said his preliminary injunction blocking an “arbitrary” termination won’t interfere with the government’s ability to pursue lawful immigration enforcement.

The ruling is an “important step for fairness and due process,” said Stephen Manning, executive director of Innovation Law Lab, which represents the students. Innovation Law Lab, along with lawyers from the ACLU and an immigration law firm filed the suits on behalf of the two students.

“Immigrant students belong in our classrooms and in our communities, not in ICE custody,” Manning said in a statement. “We will continue fighting to make sure that Oregon’s students, the university communities, and all Oregonians can pursue their goals and education free from fear.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Conti had argued in court against an injunction, saying it was moot and unnecessary since the terminations were “set aside,” and the government had adopted new guidelines.

— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian, or on LinkedIn.