Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump Administration over an ICE policy that changes the criteria for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which covers students studying at US schools and universities, according to The New York Times.
The policy alteration would require all foreign students in the United States under SEVP to attend in-person classes at their schools, return to their home nations, or find a new school that is holding in-person classes.
The new policy makes no exceptions for schools that have converted to on-line classes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, nor does it have accommodations for students whose schools have limited classroom capacity to meet CDC guidelines.
SEVP covers students at all levels of education, from prep schools to universities to graduate schools.
Filed in the US District Court in Boston, the lawsuit accuses the Administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act.
In a statement announcing the suit, Massachusetts Attorney General stated, “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.”
Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins and the California state university system are among the universities who have sued the Administration about the change in policy.