Did a Clash With Frontier Airlines Gate Agents Cost This PhD Student Her Visa? She’s Suing Kristi Noem to Find Out
- An Iranian PhD student at the University of Connecticut is suing the Department of Homeland Security after her visa status was suddenly revoked following a run-in with Frontier Airlines staff and the TSA. Her case could have major implications for hundreds of international students facing similar issues.
An Iranian PhD student in her second year of a biomedical engineering program at the University of Connecticut is suing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after her international student status was “inexplicably” terminated without due process.
Elika Shams believes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed her from its student records without any regulatory oversight because she got into an argument with Frontier Airlines staff on New Year’s Eve.
International Students File Class Action Lawsuit
Shams is one of four international students who are bringing a class action lawsuit against Noem and Todd Lyons, Acting Director of ICE, for their decision to start “unilaterally” removing the F-1 visa status of hundreds of foreign students, which allows them to pursue academic studies in the United States.
Without her student visa status, Elika is unable to continue any of her coursework or research and is no longer permitted to work and earn a living as a graduate research assistant in the University of Connecticut lab.
According to a 20-page complaint filed in a Connecticut district court late last week, Elika can’t think of any reason that her F-1 visa would have been revoked “practically overnight” and with no warning, except for her run-in with the TSA.
Run-in With Frontier Airlines Gate Agents Leads to TSA Warning
On December 31, 2024, Elika was running to catch a connecting flight at Boston Logan Airport when she was stopped by gate agents from boarding a Frontier Airlines flight.
The gate agents allegedly demanded Elika pay $100 to take her carry-on bag onboard the plane, but when she questioned the charge, the Frontier staffers shut the jetbridge door and ended the boarding process.
Desperate to get on the plane, Elika admits to trying to open the jet bridge door while pleading with the Frontier Airlines employees that she would pay the carry-on fee if she were allowed on board.
Unfortunately for Elika, her pleas fell on deaf ears, and instead, the airline reported her to the TSA, who issued a warning to Elika.
Importantly, however, Elika was never arrested or cited, and the complaint against her was never investigated any further.
DHS Deletes Visa Status Without Explanation
Fast forward to April 10, 2025, and out of the blue, Elika received an email from administrators at her university informing her that the Department of Homeland Security had removed her from its Student Visitor and Information System, which tracks international students on F-1 visas.
The only information the DHS gave Elika was that her record had been deleted because she had been “identified in a criminal records check.”
Although her F-1 visa hasn’t actually been revoked, the university can’t allow her to continue studying without a record on the Student Visitor and Information System. That means she’ll be out of compliance with her study program and will “forcibly” lose her F-1 status.
Elika and the other plaintiffs are calling on the court to issue an injunction, alleging that the DHS breached their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
“The F-1 status terminations have significantly disrupted Plaintiffs’ studies, training, and careers,” the complaint alleges. “They have generated rampant distress and fear, including of detention and removal proceedings.”
The suit alleges that the DHS has yet to give the students any “meaningful” reason why their F-1 status has been terminated.
Du v. United States Department of Homeland Security was filed in the District Court, D. Connecticut, on April 24. A copy of the complaint can be found here: 3:25-cv-00644
Would she prefer to be arrested?
When you’re a guest in another country, it’s best to not cause trouble…..or attempt to breach airport security by attempting to gain access to a secure area (which is EXACTLY what she tried to do by forcing the SIDA portal).
The PHD candidate taught herself a lesson about how the real works and I’ll bet that her homeland of Iran would have been much less tolerant of her airport shenanigans.
She already gave a reason why she’d have her visa cancelled, she tried to breach a secured jetbridge door that leads to the airport ramp. That makes her a security threat.
Having an F1 visa is a privilege not a right. She can continue her studies at any University of Iran.
The door closed, time to rearrange one’s travel plans! Eh? In Dubai, maybe even her home country, she would have gotten 10 years in prison. Visa holder or citizen, trying force one’s way onto plane never gets there faster. Politeness and even some humor (albeit gallows humor) just works better, or at least doesn’t dig one into a hole. Maybe a day or two lost, but still works out better than being a pill about it. Anyway, the moral of the story is to examine the baggage fees when or before booking a flight. Her wouldbe fellow passagengers dutifully paid theirs, and had she paid in advance, likely been cheaper and no hassels