Harvard, MIT sue US govt on foreign student visa plan

WASHINGTON: Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the US government agencies that proposed new visa rules for international students that could hit thousands from India.

The Trump administration sought to soften the impact of its controversial order, calling it only a temporary measure and that it was meant to force these institutions to reopen fully from the Covid-19 lockdowns. In the lawsuit filed in a Boston court, the two universities sought a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to bar the department of homeland security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from implementing the proposed order that will force foreign students of institutions offering online-only classes for the upcoming fall semester to leave the country.

“The order came down without notice - its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness,” Harvard University president Lawrence S Bacow wrote in an email to affiliates. “We believe that the

ICE order is bad public policy, and we believe that it is illegal.”

Harvard would be directly impacted by the order as it had announced plans to hold online classes for the fall semester just hours before ICE issued the guidelines on Monday.

US President Donald Trump slammed Harvard’s move as “ridiculous”.

On Tuesday, the state department said the measure was a “temporary accommodation” for the fall semester, and that it will allow international students to continue through a mixture of online and in-person learning.