Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter filed an appeal on Friday on behalf of the federal government of U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper’s preliminary injunction reinstating Rümeysa Öztürk’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record.
SEVIS is the federal database governing the legal status of noncitizen students.
Casper ordered the government to reinstate Öztürk’s SEVIS record in December, writing that terminating Öztürk’s record prevented her from engaging in paid research and core components of her doctoral program, constituting irreparable harm required for a preliminary injunction.
Terminating a SEVIS record strips an individual of work authorization and prevents them from reentering the United States. It can also trigger the accrual of “unlawful presence,” exposing the person to additional penalties, including future bars on reentry.
No stay of the preliminary injunction has been issued, meaning Casper’s order — and Öztürk’s SEVIS record — stays in effect. The docket, however, does not immediately indicate whether or not the government sought a motion to stay pending appeal. For a stay to be issued, harm would have to be deemed irreparable were a stay not issued.
The government would therefore need to explain how restoring Öztürk’s SEVIS record would cause irreparable harm or not be in the public interest.
The District Court has yet to rule on the final merits of Öztürk’s SEVIS termination. The government’s appeal of the preliminary injunction will be reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, located in Boston.
