Seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over a new policy that forces international students to leave the United States if they do not have in-person classes in the fall.
The 18 attorneys general introduced the suit against the Department of Homeland Security in a Boston federal court Monday. The suit states that the federal government took “cruel, abrupt and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States.”
“The Trump Administration didn’t 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, who leads the effort.
Last week, the DHS agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it was reversing a springtime policy that allowed 1 million foreign students to remain in the U.S. and attend virtual college classes. Classes were moved online for most universities and colleges due to quarantine and shutdown efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States,” ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program office said in a statement. “Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.”
As the virus continues to pelt the U.S., many universities have opted to hold some or all classes online in the fall. ICE’s determination last week will force all students not enrolled in in-person classes to leave the country, which some in higher education have said will hurt enrollment and is not fair to students. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology challenged ICE’s move days after the announcement, and at present, more than 60 universities have sued.
The state suit alleges the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which specifies how federal rules are implemented and undone. States involved in the latest suit are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. California took separate legal action. The visas affected by the DHS’s decision are nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 visas.
