Recently, the US government announced an outrageous decision where students who will be taking their classes online will be sent back to their home countries.
Reacting to this are top educational institutes of the world, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who have announced that they are suing the Trump administration for this illogical decision.
Read on to find out more details!
Harvard And MIT Sue Trump Organization Over Student Visa
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or USICE recently announced that Indian and International students in the US under F-1 and M-1 visa will be ordered to leave the country if the country if their colleges and universities are conducting 100% online courses.
Harvard University and MIT have both filed a lawsuit at the US District Court in Boston and asked for a temporary restraining order to put a halt to the Government’s decision.
Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow stated in the Harvard Crimson, “We believe that the ICE order is bad public policy, and we believe that it is illegal… We will pursue this case vigorously so that our international students – and international students at institutions across the country – can continue their studies without the threat of deportation.”
Universities Request Restraining Order On Law
Citing the decision as ‘unlawful’, the universities have requested the US Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from implementing such a federal rule that will make international students to leave the country.
The petition by the universities states, “ICE’s decision reflects an effort by the federal government to force universities to reopen in-person classes, which would require housing students in densely packed residential halls, notwithstanding the universities’ judgment that it is neither safe nor educationally advisable to do so, and to force such a reopening when neither the students nor the universities have sufficient time to react to or address the additional risks to the health and safety of their communities.”
If this restraining order is imposed, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy will be put on hold. The court papers have revealed that the universities relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s policy from March. This policy permitted foreign students to remain in the US and allow new students to come in from the next fall.
As per the new order, foreign students that are studying in America will have to leave the country or face deportation if they are attending their classes on digital platforms in the fall semester.
This order has severely impacted thousands of Indian students