Latest news with #ACLUofMontana
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal judge grants preliminary injunction protecting MSU students' visa status
The bobcat statue at Montana State University. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan) A federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction preventing the federal government from revoking the visa status of two Montana State University graduate students and prohibiting the federal government from arresting, detaining or transferring either student from Montana. In April, four international students affiliated with the Montana University System had their visas revoked and student visitor records terminated. Due to the possibility of immediate deportation due to the change in status, two of the students challenged the decision in federal court. The ACLU of Montana sued on their behalf, and the Trump administration subsequently and separately reinstated them in a database that keeps those records, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. However, Alex Rate with the ACLU of Montana previously told the Daily Montanan continuing the lawsuit would ensure the students have ongoing assurance their status would not change again without cause. U.S. District Court Judge Dana L. Christensen previously granted an emergency restraining order preventing the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting the students, and Tuesday's 26-page ruling converts that restraining order into a preliminary injunction, reinstating their legal status for the duration of the lawsuit. 'The court made it clear that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally circumvent the law and punish students who have followed all the rules by stripping them of their legal status, disrupting their studies, and putting them at risk of deportation,' said Akilah Deernose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Montana, in a press statement. 'We are pleased that the Court granted a preliminary injunction to provide longer-term certainty and to preserve the status quo until the lawsuit is resolved. Now our clients have the assurance they need to continue their graduate studies, especially given the unpredictable actions undertaken by the Trump administration.' On April 25, the Department of Homeland Security reversed a policy that had resulted in the mass termination of international students' SEVIS records, but the court found in its ruling that because defendants could not provide 'any information — let alone any specific information or timelines' about the new policy, a preliminary injunction was warranted. 'At risk of understandment, the defendants' approach to these particular issues presents an ever-changing landscape,' according to court documents. Without more information or a guarantee of the plaintiffs' status, 'The changes wrought by defendants appear to fall squarely within the category of 'easily abandoned or altered in the future.' The court's ruling also found that the Trump administration failed to follow its own agency's regulation in terminating the SEVIS records, saying the action was 'arbitrary and capricious.' According to court documents, the federal government argued that the students' records were terminated 'due to their criminal history,' but neither student has been convicted of a crime. One student was arrested in March and charged with misdemeanor theft, but pleaded not guilty and has not been convicted of any offense. The other student had been arrested and charged with misdemeanor partner and/or family member assault but also pleaded not guilty and has not been convicted of any offense. The Department of Homeland Security cited a regulation that says criminal activity could result in termination of status as justification for their actions, but the court found that the regulation specifically states that a 'conviction' for 'a crime of violence for which more than one year imprisonment may be imposed [] constitutes a failure to maintain status.' The charges against the plaintiffs don't satisfy the criteria, the ruling states, due to one carrying a maximum sentence of less than one year of imprisonment, the other carrying no prison time, and neither plaintiff has been convicted. As a result of the injunction, both students have been able to return to work and school, according to the ACLU press release. The students — one pursuing a doctorate in electrical engineering and physics and the other a master's degree in microbiology — are both 'only a matter of months away from obtaining their advanced degrees.'
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge extends emergency order for MSU international students
Montana State University welcomes students back to campus for the first day of the Fall 2023 semester. (Provided by Montana State University) A federal judge extended this week an emergency order that prevents the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting two Montana State University graduate students. Last month, four international students affiliated with the Montana University System had their visas revoked and student visitor records terminated. The terminations could subject the students to immediate deportation, and two of the students, graduates at MSU, challenged the decision in federal court. The ACLU of Montana sued on their behalf, and the Trump administration subsequently and separately reinstated them in a database that keeps those records, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. However, Alex Rate of the ACLU of Montana said in an email Thursday that the students still need the court to step in because the recent reinstatement does not provide the students ongoing assurance. 'Given the chaos and confusion that the Trump Administration has created for our clients, the only thing that can bring them some certainty is an order from the court,' Rate said in an email. 'This Administration's conduct is cruel and illegal, and we will not stand idly by while our clients' rights are being trampled.' NBC News reported Wednesday the revocations affected an estimated 3,000 international students in the U.S. On April 21, Inside Higher Ed said the terminations had resulted in at least 28 lawsuits across the country. At a hearing of Roe v. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Judge Dana Christensen agreed the reinstatements did not mean the case was moot. Christensen extended the temporary restraining order an additional 14 days until he had an opportunity to rule on the students' motion for a preliminary injunction. A media contact from the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Montana did not return a call for comment Thursday. National media outlets said the terminations took place after Homeland Security ran the names of 1.3 million foreign students through a crime database and sent hits to the State Department. The State Department then revoked visas and told Homeland Security to change their status from 'active' to 'terminated' in the SEVIS database, which university officials monitor. The lawsuit said a terminated record requires a student to depart the U.S. immediately, citing a notification the students received from MSU. However, the lawsuit alleged the visa revocation isn't a legal justification for the termination of a SEVIS record. It said the students were not provided additional information about the terminations. Therefore, the ACLU of Montana alleges the government's actions circumvent the law and appear designed to coerce the students into 'self-deporting.' The lawsuit said the students had done nothing to violate their visa status, but the case challenges the terminations of their records in the SEVIS database, not the visa revocations. The lawsuit also said the two plaintiffs from MSU had not been convicted of any crimes 'in the U.S. or elsewhere' and both were 'star students and model members of their respective school communities.' In Judge Christensen's emergency ruling, he found the case similar to one in New Hampshire in which the court found the federal government had not followed its own procedures in actions affecting students and violated due process protections. At a hearing for a case in the Northern District of California in Oakland last week, an attorney for the Justice Department said the federal government would no longer terminate statuses based only on information in the crime database, according to NBC News.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Montana judge blocks anti-trans bathroom law
A state judge in Montana on Wednesday temporarily blocked a law that prevented transgender folks from using bathrooms in public buildings that aligned with their gender identities, the Associated Press reports. Transgender state Rep. Zoey Zephyr and local activists heralded the decision. District Court Judge Shane Vannatta issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) barring enforcement of House Bill 121 until April 21. The new law, signed into law by Republic Gov. Greg Gianforte on March 27, codifies and claims to 'reaffirm the longstanding meanings' of the terms 'sex, male, and female' and 'preserve women's restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters for women in facilities where women have traditionally been afforded privacy and safety from acts of abuse, harassment, sexual assault, and violence committed by men.' The suit was filed by Casey Perkins, Spencer McDonald, Kasandra Redding, and two unidentified individuals identified as Jane and John Doe. The five were represented by the ACLU of Montana, in partnership with ACLU and Legal Voice. 'Today's ruling provides enormous relief to trans Montanans across the state,' Alex Rate, legal director for ACLU of Montana said in a statement to the media. 'The state's relentless attacks on trans and Two Spirit people cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny by the courts.' Zephyr, the transgender state representative who incurred the wrath of Republicans last year when they unsuccessfully tried to ban her from using the women's restrooms in the state capital, heralded the judge's order. 'Montana's anti-trans bathroom ban is BLOCKED by the courts,' Zephyr posted to X. 'The judge finds that the ban was "motivated by animus" and that it showed no evidence that it protects safety and privacy.' Kaitlin Price, a spokesperson for Gianforte, appeared to scoff at the case and TRO in an anti-trans statement emailed to the media. 'We're not surprised to see far-left activists run to the courts to stop this common-sense law,' Price said before denying trans women are women. Gianforte signed House Bill 121 last week along with House Bill 130, which made it illegal for public educational institutions to permit transgender folks to use restrooms, bathing, changing, and sleeping facilities that align with their gender identity. 'Standing alongside our partners in Montana and across the country, I am proud to safeguard privacy and security for women and girls – because a man shouldn't be in a women's restroom, shouldn't be in a women's shower room, and shouldn't be housed in a women's prison,' Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a statement last week announcing the signing. 'Today, we're maintaining equal opportunity for all Americans while also protecting women and girls and their right to safe and separate facilities and activities.' Both laws took effect immediately. Since only House Bill 121 was challenged in court, House Bill 130 remains in effect.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge grants temporary restraining order against ‘bathroom bill' governor signed last week
A sign outside one of the bathrooms in the Montana State Capitol. House Bill 121 would restrict access to bathrooms based strictly on biological sex. (Micah Drew/ Daily Montanan) A district court judge in Missoula on Tuesday temporarily blocked state officials from enforcing a new Montana law restricting access to public restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping spaces based on an individual's sex assigned at birth. Missoula District Court Judge Shane Vannatta's ruling said a temporary restraining order on House Bill 121 is warranted and will preserve the status quo until the court can rule on a motion for a preliminary injunction. The court scheduled a hearing for April 21. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB 121 last Thursday, praising the legislature's speedy passage of a bill that safeguards 'fairness, privacy and security for women and girls.' The same day, the ACLU of Montana filed a lawsuit on behalf of five transgender and intersex individuals from across Montana who would be 'immediately' impacted by the 'terrible law,' according to the organization's legal director, Alex Rate. The Governor's Office did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The law, introduced by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, applies to all public facilities and those that receive public funding, including correctional centers, juvenile detention facilities, local domestic violence programs, public buildings, and public schools. It includes leased public spaces and covers libraries, museums, hospitals, and university buildings. In the suit, the five plaintiffs allege HB 121 violates their rights under the state constitution including 'the rights to equal protection, privacy, to pursue life's basic necessities, and due process.' If implemented, the bill 'would make it difficult, if not impossible, for transgender and intersex Montanans to participate in public life — to work, attend school, go to the courthouse or the Motor Vehicle Division, or visit a library or state park,' the complaint states, and essentially 'excludes intersex people from these facilities altogether.' The bill, Vannatta wrote, 'is motivated by animus and supported by no evidence that its restrictions advance its purported purpose to protect women's safety and privacy.' But the law, along with another law barring transgender individuals from participating in sports aligning with their gender identity, have been priorities for the Republican majority in the Legislature, as seen by the bills' swift passage through both chambers. HB 121 was one of the first bills heard during the 69th Legislative session, and Gianforte also made it a major point in his State of the State speech in January. Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, said when the bill was signed that the measure represented a 'common sense' victory and showed that 'in Montana, we still believe in biological reality.' Vannatta said the plaintiffs had shown 'at least serious questions going to the merits' of their claims, and that they 'are concretely harmed' by the law's denial of access to facilities that align with their gender identity. The order also states that intersex people, who do not fit the law's definitions of male and female, 'do not know whether they are permitted to use any sex-separated facilities at all.' A hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for 1 p.m. on April 21 in the Missoula County Courthouse. Temporary Restraining Order and Order Setting Preliminary Injunction Hearing 11 Temporary Restraining Order and Order Setting Preliminary Injunction Hearing (1)
