It's happened so frequently over the past few months that it's become a cliché — another day, another temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction entered against the Trump administration. Maybe both. Maybe another five entered. Thank God I have a spreadsheet to (mostly) keep up with them all. 

On Thursday, Judge Jeffrey White, a district court judge for the Northern District of California, entered an order that, yet again, illustrates the federal judiciary's apparent belief that it runs the government. 

BREAKING: A federal judge in California has issued a nationwide injunction that will block the Trump administration from ending legal status for foreign students attending schools in the US while the underlying case is being litigated. Judge Jeffrey White says the government…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 22, 2025

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To set the scene: The plaintiffs in the case (styled S.Y. v. Noem) are foreign nationals in the U.S. on F-1 (student) visas. The federal government has a database — the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS) — that tracks international students' compliance with their F-1 status. 

On April 4, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terminated plaintiffs' SEVIS records and marked them as “Otherwise Failing to Maintain Status – Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked." In other words, most of the plaintiffs have had some contact with law enforcement in the U.S., but, they maintain, nothing that violates the terms of their visas (i.e., no violent felonies). Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the terminations; the government restored SEVIS records on April 8. However, plaintiffs maintain that the record termination effectively terminated their F-1 status and created all manner of uncertainty as to whether or not they could continue their studies, continue authorized employment, or change visa status post-graduation, as well as concerns that they may be detained or deported. 

There have been multiple lawsuits filed challenging the SEVIS record termination. In this suit, there are five plaintiffs. No class certification was requested nor issued by the court. Nevertheless, in entering his order on Thursday, Judge White issued an injunction applicable not only to the named plaintiffs, but also to "similarly situated individuals nationwide."

Here's more on what went down:

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending amid a crackdown on illegal behavior on college campuses.

California U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White barred the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similar students and from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence.

His order also prohibits the administration from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved.

So, again, we have the nationwide or universal injunction issue rearing its ugly head, and a district court seemingly exceeding the scope of its authority, even assuming the named plaintiffs in the case have legitimate claims. I expect we'll see an appeal of this one, as well, though as of this writing, the government has not filed a notice of appeal. We'll continue to monitor and report on any updates as warranted. 

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