Harvard and MIT filed suit against the Trump administration Wednesday over a policy shift that forbids international students from studying at colleges and universities that shift to remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.<\/b>
\nHarvard and MIT filed suit against the Trump administration Wednesday over a policy shift that forbids international students from studying at colleges and universities that shift to remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.
\u201cWe will pursue this case vigorously so that our international students \u2014 and international students at institutions across the country \u2014 can continue their studies without the threat of deportation,\u201d Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said in a message to the university community on Wednesday.
\u201cWe believe that the ICE order is bad public policy, and we believe that it is illegal,\u201d Bacow wrote.
The suit comes two days after U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent the higher education community into upheaval when it rescinded pandemic-era exceptions imposed in March that allowed foreign students to take classes online as campuses across the country shuttered in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Under the new federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program rule, students whose courses will be taught fully online would be barred from entering the country. Those already in the United States must either leave the country or transfer to a school with in-person instruction to keep their visas.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Federal Court in Boston, seeks a 14-day restraining order and asks for the ICE directive to be vacated or set aside as \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d
ICE said in response to a Herald inquiry that the agency is not able to comment on pending litigation.
The ICE policy shift has faced intense backlash from the higher education community since it was announced. Many institutions assumed immigration authorities would extend flexibility for international students through the next academic year as the public health crisis continues.
Colleges and universities from Princeton to Berkeley have been left scrambling to find creative ways to offer the in-person instruction necessary for more than 1.1 million international students across the nation to keep their visas.
Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber announced the institution would file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, calling ICE\u2019s policy \u201cdisruptive and ill-defined.\u201d
Attorney General Maura Healey has also vowed legal action against a policy she said only \u201ccreates more uncertainty.\u201d
\u201cMassachusetts is home to thousands of international students who should not fear deportation or be forced to put their health and safety at risk in order to advance their education. This decision from ICE is cruel, it\u2019s illegal, and we will sue to stop it,\u201d Healey said.
The lawsuit marks another line in the sand in the battle between the Trump administration and local education officials.
Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said in a Tuesday appearance on CNN said the visa directive \u201cwill\u2026 encourage schools to reopen.\u201d
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said anything less than a full reopening of the nation\u2019s elementary and high schools would be a failure for students and taxpayers. President Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal money if districts don\u2019t bring back students in the fall.<\/p>\n