Nearly 60 public and private universities are supporting a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the Trump administration from stripping foreign students of visas at universities that choose against in-person classes this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Harvard University and MIT filed the lawsuit last week in Boston federal court after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) announced that international students would have to leave the US. If their schools changed classes exclusively online. Universities request a temporary restraining order and a permanent court order against politics.
Fifty-nine universities filed an amicus brief in court on Sunday supporting Harvard and MIT legal actions. The schools – based in 24 states and Washington, DC – they have a combined total of 213.00 international students enrolled, according to the report. Schools include Georgetown, Stanford, Arizona State University, and Yale.
“A fundamental principle of administrative law is that the government must provide a reasoned explanation of its actions and consider all the important aspects of a problem before imposing burdens on regulated parties,” says the short report. “The July 6 Directive does not meet this basic requirement.”
Universities also argued that university leaders trusted federal guidance that allowed international students to stay in the country while taking online classes in preparation for the fall period. In March, ICE officials said international students would be granted an exemption from attending classes in person throughout the entire public health emergency.
“The emergency persists, but government policy has changed suddenly and dramatically, throwing [schools’] preparations in disorder and causing significant damage and confusion, “the universities said.
ICE’s announcement earlier this month about student visas came as the Trump administration stepped up its drive to reopen schools this fall. Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
Elizabeth (Betsy) Dee DeVosPressley beats DeVos for reopening schools: ‘I would not trust you to take care of a house plant, much less my son’ Teachers confront Trump at the reopening of the school The battle for reopening of schools heats up MORE They have expressed the need for schools to offer in-person classes, raising concerns about whether teachers have the necessary equipment to do so safely.
In their lawsuit, Harvard and MIT alleged that ICE’s decision was designed to “compel universities to reopen classes in person.” The legal action came just two days after Harvard announced that it would offer all of its classes online for the upcoming school year.
The university has said it will allow “those who must be on campus to progress academically” to return in the fall.
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