DePaul graduate student Vishnu Vardhan Nali is suing Kristi Noem, Todd Lyons and the Department of Homeland Security after the agency revoked his F-1 student visa last Tuesday, April 9.
Nali, an international student from India, was in his final quarter studying business analytics at DePaul when he was notified and was set to graduate in June.
He received an email from DePaul on April 8, stating that his federal immigration officials terminated his F-1 status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, a database that tracks information about students and exchange visitors.
Jeff Brown, Nali’s lawyer, said Nali is “very much at risk right now,” much like other international students studying in the U.S. They have filed an emergency motion to fast-track the lawsuit and reinstate his status.
“We’ve done that because he is out of status right now and technically, legally deportable … meaning the ICE agents could show up at his door and drive him to O’Hare and put him on a plane,” Brown said.
According to Brown, Nali is now unable to work or study in the U.S, leaving him with no income and likely making him ineligible to graduate this June.
Nali has lived in Chicago and studied at DePaul since fall 2023. In 2024, he was arrested for a “minor shoplifting offence,” according to the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division court on April 11. Though he was arrested, the charges were dropped, according to the complaint.
Getting arrested is not a basis to terminate F-1 student status under the SEVIS system according to U.S. regulations.
Nevertheless, Brown said he thinks Nali’s previous arrest was likely the cause of his visa revocation.
Susan Fortino-Brown, an immigration lawyer and Brown’s wife, who is on DePaul’s referral list of attorneys, brought the case to Brown’s attention.
Fortino-Brown said some of the students with F-1 visas who are in STEM fields are entitled to three years of employment authorization.
“Unless he is reinstated into … F-1 status, he’s going to lose out on all that opportunity,” Fortino-Brown said.
DePaul officials were asked for comment for this story but have yet to reply.
A court hearing for Nali’s case is scheduled for Friday, April 18.
Brown said he and Fortino-Brown have been receiving many phone calls from people in Chicago and Illinois who are in similar situations as Nali.
“My concerns are primarily those of the client, who’s retained me,” Brown said. “But it’s a bigger concern about the entire structure of the United States government and how it has effectuated this — and why and what the end game is.
“And it’s just enormous.”
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