International students in the US have had to deal with an increasingly uncertain immigration environment. Under Donald’s Trump administration, foreign student visa regulations have been tightened, enforced more strictly, and legal status abruptly terminated—often without warning. Even if some of those regulations have subsequently been contested or relaxed, students across are still impacted by their fallout. The most recent instance? A 21-year-old Indian student from Wisconsin is in danger of being deported just weeks before graduating.
In a dramatic twist, a US federal judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of this student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pausing the Trump-era push to revoke international student visas mid-semester.
The decision, made on April 15 by Judge William Conley in the Western District of Wisconsin, stops the Department of Homeland Security from detaining or deporting Krish Lal Isserdasani—or revoking his F-1 student visa, which had been abruptly terminated earlier this month. Isserdasani, a final-year computer engineering student, was just weeks away from graduating in May.
The legal intervention came after a request for a temporary restraining order, filed by attorney Shabnam Lotfi. According to court documents, Isserdasani’s SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) record was terminated without any prior notice. The judge noted that the student had been given “no warning, no opportunity to explain or defend himself, and no chance to correct any potential misunderstanding” before the visa was cancelled.
The trouble began with a late-night bar argument last November. Isserdasani was arrested on November 22, 2024, for suspected misdemeanor disorderly conduct—but the case never made it to court. No charges were filed by Dane County’s District Attorney, and Isserdasani was never summoned. With no prior legal trouble, he believed the incident had blown over.
Now, with the judge’s order in place, the student has a temporary shield—but the case underscores the fragile footing many international students find themselves on. For Isserdasani, graduation is back on track—for now.
