California universities sue Trump over visa rule that affects tens of thousands of students
California is suing the Trump administration to block to a visa rule that could force tens of thousands of international college students to leave the country this fall unless their campuses resume in-class instruction during the coronavirus outbreak.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California targets modifications to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday that it would not grant non-immigrant students with F-1 and M-1 visas enrolled in schools or programs that are fully online during the fall semester.
About 10,000 California State University students and 21,000 California community college students are believed to be at risk if the rule is enforced. The University of California also announced a lawsuit challenging the rule. It has about 41,000 undergraduate and graduate international students.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra argues decisions on whether to resume in-class instruction belong with local agencies.
“State and local officials are better positioned to determine how to reopen our institutions and facilities, based on public health conditions. And this new Trump policy ignores that reality,” Becerra said. “The Trump administration policy turns our universities into hotspots of the disease.”
Students who don’t follow the Student and Exchange Visitor Program modifications could face deportation. Citing The Department of Homeland Security, Becerra said California had more than 184,000 international students enrolled in California schools in January.
“Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” according to a news release from ICE.
Under the modifications, students with F-1 visas enrolled in a mixture of online and in-person classes will be allowed to take more than one class, or three credit hours, online. Students with M-1 visas pursuing vocational degrees are not permitted to enroll in online classes.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Becerra called the new policy “dangerous,” and could force students to take in-person classes and puts students, teachers and their classmates at risk to contract the virus.
During a virtual press conference announcing the lawsuit, Becerra was joined by California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley and California State University Chancellor Timothy White.
“It is nearly impossible for these students to just pick up and leave,” Ortiz Oakley said. “Our colleges are in the best position to determine how to safely reopen and ensure that our students can continue to receive the education that they deserve.”
White said the new policy “unfairly and “unnecessarily” disrupts the education of more than 10,000 international students in the California State University system.
“They deserve better than the risk and expense of international travel in the middle of a global public health crisis,” White said.
Becerra noted that Thursday’s filing marks the 86th lawsuit against the Trump administration. Earlier this week, Becerra sued Education Secretary Betsy Devos over the allocation of pandemic relief funds away from California K-12 public schools.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 4:09 PM with the headline "California universities sue Trump over visa rule that affects tens of thousands of students."