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Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Lawsuit Challenges New Rule for International Students

We earlier posted the statement of Chancellor Block concerning the new federal rule requiring international students taking online courses to return home. There is now a lawsuit from Harvard and MIT challenging the rule. It seems likely that UC will join the suit in some fashion.

From the Boston Globe:

The leaders of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are now asking the federal courts to block the Trump administration’s ban on international students from being in the United States to attend the Cambridge institutions because most classes will be held online this fall.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in US District Court in Boston, the universities are seeking a temporary restraining order that would put the Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy on hold for 14 days. In court papers, the universities said they relied on the DHS policy from March that allowed foreign students in the US to remain and to allow new students to arrive this fall. But the Trump administration issued new rules Monday banning foreign students if classes are being held mostly online.

“If allowed to stand, ICE’s policy would bar hundreds of thousands of international students at American universities from the United States in the midst of their undergraduate or graduate studies,‘' the schools wrote in the court papers. “ICE’s decision reflects a naked effort by the federal government to force universities to reopen all in-person classes notwithstanding their informed judgment that it is neither safe nor advisable to do so. The effect — perhaps even the goal — is to create chaos for schools and international students alike." 

The universities have asked the federal court to schedule a hearing on their request Wednesday while they push for the courts to permanently block the order from taking effect...

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