17 states file suit to block Trump administration’s student visa restrictions.

Trump effort to force in-person classes called ‘senseless’

A Trump administration effort to force foreign college students to take in-person classes in the fall or lose their visas has prompted a highstakes legal battle between the White House and some of America’s top universities, with 17 states and the District of Columbia joining the fray Monday in a lawsuit that calls the policy “senseless and cruel.”

The visa guidelines, issued a week ago, would upend months of careful planning by colleges and universities and could force many students to return to their home countries during the pandemic, where their ability to study would be severely compromised.

The confrontation comes as the White House is pushing colleges and K-12 schools to throw open their doors to students, even as a growing number decide that it’s not safe. Many universities have chosen to allow a limited number of students on campus but to teach most classes virtually — a decision that President Donald Trump has derided as “ridiculous.” Late last week, as his annoyance with universities grew, Trump threatened their nonprofit status.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both of which plan mostly online classes, were the first to challenge the new visa rules in court, saying they were hastily implemented in violation of federal procedures. Their lawsuit last week set up a hearing scheduled for this afternoon, a day before the government is requiring schools to certify that students are taking in-person classes to meet the visa requirements.

Dozens of universities have weighed in with Harvard and MIT, and California’s attorney general and several universities filed their own suits in federal court late last week seeking to block the directive.

“The president is using foreign students as pawns to keep all schools open, no matter the cost to the health and well-being of these students and their communities,” said

Mark Rosenbaum, a lawyer with Public Counsel, a legal aid organization in Los Angeles representing foreign graduate students at three California universities. “It’s tempertantrum policymaking.”

The administration responded in court filings Monday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the discretion to set student visa guidance, and that just because universities don’t like the requirements doesn’t make them against the law.

The government also pointed out that the directive allows foreign students to take more online classes than they could have a year ago, when only one virtual course was allowed. The agency had waived that requirement in March, as the pandemic swept across the country and forced college campuses to abruptly close.

Universities have argued that the state of emergency declared by the president in March remains in effect, so the waived visa rules should, too.

“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,” Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general, said in a statement announcing the suit she filed Monday with 16 other states, which accuses the administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

At stake is the fate of possibly tens of thousands of students from all over the world who are enrolled in American universities this fall, where they represent both a major source of academic brainpower and a vital revenue stream for institutions that face deep financial losses in the pandemic.

The federal guidance issued July 6 has sent students scrambling to enroll in in-person classes that are difficult to find, if they are available at all.

In their lawsuits, universities and the state attorneys general suggest that the new guidance is part of a politically motivated attempt to force universities to reopen, against their better judgment of the health risks.