Attorney General Gurbir Grewal | Pool photo by Michael Mancuso / NJ.com
New Jersey is among 17 states and the District of Columbia suing to prevent the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service from implementing a policy that requires international student visa holders to take all or most of their classes in person at colleges this fall or at risk of deportation.
“This ICE Directive puts all of our students’ lives at risk by using international students and the tuition they pay as leverage to compel colleges and universities to start classes in person before they are ready,” said the New Jersey attorney general. , Gurbir Grewal. a declaration. “It is reckless, irresponsible, immoral and illegal.”
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According to the lawsuit filed Monday in Massachusetts federal court, attorneys general, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, argue that, because of the risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic, “a general approach to impart face-to-face classes, it doesn’t matter Current local public health risks endanger not only students, teachers and staff, but also members of their home and our communities at large. “
New Jersey joins the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin in the lawsuit .
The ICE directive was first announced on July 6, without the required notice and public comment period, according to the lawsuit. The proposed ruling terminates an exemption, issued by the ICE Student Exchange and Visitor Program on March 13, 2020, which allowed international students with F-1 and M-1 visas to remain in the country while taking all or the Most of their online classes as universities across the country were turning to remote-only learning in the first few weeks of the pandemic.
At the time, SEVP said the provision would be temporary, but would remain in effect “for the duration of the emergency” and that SEVP would monitor the pandemic and adjust the orientation “as necessary.”
ICE said the proposed policy is intended to “maximize flexibility for students to continue their studies, while minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission by not admitting students to the country who do not need to be present to attend classes in person. “
The federal government’s abrupt change to these rules has rocked the New Jersey higher education community as colleges and universities across the state are compiling their fall back-to-campus plans. As Covid-19 cases continue to rise across the country, many schools in the state, including Rutgers University and Princeton University, have chosen to teach very few in-person classes and instead become more remote . The loss of international students due to this decision could be detrimental to their budgets, authorities said.
According to an estimate cited by Grewal’s office, international students contribute more than $ 823 million to the New Jersey economy.
“Not only is the new ICE Directive harming international students seeking higher education amid a global pandemic, but by providing less than two weeks’ notice, ICE carelessly pressures institutions to make critical decisions about instruction for the fall 2020 semester, “Diana Gonzalez, New Jersey’s acting secretary of higher education, said in a statement.
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, who chairs a population of more than 6,000 international students, said in a statement that the ICE board “appears to be motivated by politics during the pandemic.”
“Presenting these new policy proposals amid the global pandemic, right after announcements that New Jersey universities will provide remote instruction, and just a few weeks before the start of the next semester is revealing and troubling,” said Holloway. “The Directive is thoughtless and is in direct conflict with the values we hold dear.”
New Jersey also filed a complaint Monday with a statement from Rutgers Treasurer J. Michael Gower, who estimates the school could lose $ 200 million or more in the 2020-21 academic year alone if the ICE directive moves forward.
International students told POLITICO last week that the proposed policy change was “shocking” and is leading them to abandon plans to study and work in the United States.
The multi-state lawsuit is not the first to reject the ICE directive. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, later along with Princeton, filed a lawsuit last week against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in an attempt to stop the proposed federal policy.
