Universities file suit vs. feds over ICE policy
rooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others.”
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order vacating the new policy and reinstating the March temporary guidance that allowed international students to remain in the country for online instruction during the duration of the public health emergency.
Attorney General Maura Healey indicated Tuesday that she’s pursuing a lawsuit against ICE, while Republican Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday called the policy “a premature decision.”
“Federal edicts like that, especially given that the facts on the ground do change quite a bit and are different everywhere, don’t make a lot of sense,” Baker said when asked about the topic Wednesday.
Instead, Baker said, the federal government should work with state and education officials to develop collaborative plans driven by local needs and public health outlooks.
“There are a lot of those folks who are working on really important research, some of which actually relates to COVID, both here in Massachusetts and in other parts of the country,” he added. “Some of our best minds are involved in that. I don’t see any reason at all why we wouldn’t want them to continue to do that work.”
Under the new rule, international students whose programs offer only remote courses in the fall semester must either leave the country or take “alternative steps” such as transferring, reducing course load, or medical leave, according to an ICE press release outlining the policy.
The State Department will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools with fully online courseloads, and those students would be barred from entering the country or face punishments including deportation for remaining in the U.S.
“If (schools) don’t reopen this semester, there isn’t a reason for a person holding a student visa to be present in the country,” Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told CNN on Tuesday. “They can go home and reopen when the school opens. That’s what visas are for.”
Cuccinelli argued that, because the new rule would support hybrid models, “this is more flexibility that we’re looking at than has ever been provided before.”
“This is now setting the rules for one semester, which we’ll finalize later this month, that will again encourage schools to reopen, recognizing some of them are moving their start dates up, some are going to hybrid models,” he said. “We’re trying to accommodate as many of those as we can while maintaining the protections for fraud and so forth that are necessary in any international visa program.”
Neiha Lasharie, a Pakistani citizen and candidate for a master’s degree in law and diplomacy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, called the federal government’s decision one that F-1 visa holders and international students “were terrified of.”
“This is a heartbreaking decision for me,” Lasharie, a former News Service intern, wrote on Linkedin. “My program at The Fletcher School at Tufts University announced that it would institute onlineonly instruction for the Fall semester a few weeks ago. This means that scores of my peers will be thrust into precariousness, on top of the precariousness all around us already. This is truly harrowing.”
Lasharie asked that The Fletcher School “do right by its international students,” adding: “Fletcher is rich because of its neareven mix of domestic American and international students. Moreover, international students deserve to remain in the United States, by writ of their dignity, by writ of the times we are currently in.”
Colleges and universities face a tight timeline to comply. As outlined in the Harvard and MIT lawsuit, schools that will deploy fully online models must submit plans with ICE and the Student and Exchange Visitor Program by July 15.