More than 200 United States (US) universities and 17 US states are taking legal action against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s new restrictions on international students.
The recently announced restrictions state that international students cannot reside in the US if they take all their classes online in the coming academic year.
The Universities and States argue that the new policy threatens students’ safety and forces institutions to renew plans that they have already spent months preparing.
The universities have backed court briefs supporting Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the federal court in Boston.
On Monday, the District of Columbia and 17 US states arranged their own lawsuits which argue that the new policy is politically motivated and an attempt by the Trump administration to force universities to hold in-person classes when the semester starts.
The Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, said in a statement announcing the suit, “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.”
The court case by Harvard and MIT is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday by a judge. If the result of the hearing does not suspend the new policy, colleges across the US will have until Wednesday to notify ICE if they plan to be fully online when classes start in August or September.
On legal bases, The Department of Homeland Security and ICE stated that the new policy is backed by existing US law preventing international students from taking all of their classes online.
Although this existing US law was suspended by ICE in March in response to COVID-19, the ICE informed universities it was subject to change, according to a Monday court filing from the Trump administration.
The ICE claims their updated policy will still provide leniency to international students by allowing them to maintain their visas even if they study online from abroad in the coming semester.
US Universities are urging the court to block the new ICE policy backed by the Trump administration as quickly as possible as it is already being used to turn students away.