Seventeen states and the District of Columbia filed suit Monday to prevent the Trump administration from stripping foreign students of visas if their universities move exclusively to online classes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit comes after the United States Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week that international students whose courses move entirely online would have to leave the country, rescinding an earlier plan to grant exemptions to student visa holders.
“The Trump Administration did not even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey , whose office is leading the coalition of states suing the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, alleges several violations of a federal law known as the Administrative Procedure Act, which refers to how certain power of decision resides with federal agencies. The question is whether ICE’s new policy is legally justified or whether it was “arbitrary and capricious” and therefore illegal under the law.
The challenge comes after Harvard and MIT filed a similar lawsuit last week, as well as litigation filed by other higher education institutions.
“The effect, and perhaps even the goal, is to create as much chaos as possible for universities and international students,” claimed the Harvard-MIT lawsuit filed last week.
California also filed a lawsuit last week against the Trump administration measure.
In addition to Massachusetts and DC, Monday’s presentation was presented by Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The challengers have requested a preliminary and permanent court order against the administration’s new policy.
The defendant in the case is the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The agencies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, ICE announced that international students in the US would receive an exemption from the requirement to attend face-to-face classes during the public health crisis. The agency was reversed without warning last Monday.
“The US Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and / or programs that are fully online during the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection allow these students to enter the United States, “ICE said last week. “Students currently active in the United States enrolled in such programs must leave the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in legal status. Otherwise, they may face immigration consequences that include, among others, the initiation of the expulsion procedures. ”
The sudden reversal intensified President Trump
Donald John TrumpDavis: The Supreme Court decision is bad news for Trump, good news for Vance Meadows trying to root out suspected White House leakers by providing them information: Axios Pressley beats DeVos for reopening of schools : ‘I would not trust you to worry about a house plant, much less my son’ MOREThe immigration crackdown and its pressure on schools to reopen entirely in the fall, despite the worsening health crisis across the country.
The announcement threw more than a million international students with US visas into uncertainty with the start of the school year just a few weeks away.
If the new rule change is allowed to take effect, each in-country student visa holder who attends a school that is fully online will either have to leave the U.S. or transfer to an institution that attends classes. in person.
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