A federal judge in Atlanta is weighing whether to order the government to restore the immigration status of 133 current or former college students, 26 of them in Georgia, who recently received word that it had been revoked.

Judge Victoria M. Calvert of the Northern District of Georgia said she would issue a ruling on a temporary restraining order “pretty soon” after an attorney for the students and recent graduates said in a hearing Thursday that his clients had learned that their status under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program had been revoked. He said the revocations were apparently for no legal reason, with notice coming typically by email from their consulates or from their universities.

The attorney, Charles Kuck, said the loss of student visitor status means they cannot attend school, work, or return to the United States if they leave the country or are deported.

Kuck said none of his clients — who attend schools including Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Emory University, and Kennesaw State University — had committed offenses, such as a violent crime, that merit revocation. Some had misdemeanors or traffic violations, including one with a DUI conviction a dozen years ago, Kuck said, but he said those are not legal reasons to revoke their visiting student status.

He told the judge he suspected the government used artificial intelligence to identify his clients and then acted on the results whether or not revocation was merited.

“The right thing to do here is to put the kids back where they were and then let us figure this out,” Kuck said.

A lawyer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said there was no evidence of permanent harm to Kuck’s clients, and that a restraining order would “interfere with the executive’s right to control immigration,” meaning President Donald Trump’s efforts to expel certain immigrants. But he said a “narrow” restraining order would be acceptable.

Kuck said his clients had locked themselves in their homes, fearful of arrest and deportation. A Georgia Tech student who recently earned a Ph.D. had to decline a job offer as a professor due to a traffic violation.

The students spent significant sums on tuition for degrees they may not get if their status is not restored, he said, adding that the stress had been overwhelming.

“Two nights ago, one of our clients tried to commit suicide,” Kuck said.

Judge Calvert scheduled a follow-up hearing to consider a preliminary injunction on April 24, with a ruling on a temporary restraining order possible by midnight Friday. She said she needed time to analyze the case “carefully and thoughtfully” because other courts might follow her lead.

Kuck estimated that as many as 4,000 students in the country had their student visitor status similarly revoked, noting that several other federal judges had already issued temporary restraining orders.

During a press conference after the hearing, a representative from CAIR Georgia accused the government of targeting students from “disfavored” nations. Other advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, asserted that the government is fueled by anti-immigrant fervor gripping the nation.

Kuck said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, administers the student visitor program and that he just wants the agency to “follow the law, just as ICE requires our clients to follow the law.”