More Colleges, States Back Legal Action over Foreign Student Rule

More colleges and state officials are taking legal action against the Trump¹ administration's new restrictions² on international students. They say the new policy harms students' safety and forces schools to reconsider their plans for the fall.

Sixteen states and Washington, D.C. joined Massachusetts in a legal action brought last week in federal court in Boston against the rule.

Lawsuits³ were also brought by Johns Hopkins University and the state of California. The University of California system has said it also plans to take legal action.

The efforts support Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the legal case against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). More than 200 universities have signed legal briefs supporting the case against ICE.

Under the new ICE rule, international students must take at least some of their college classes in person, transfer to U.S-based schools with in-person classes or leave the country. They will have to leave the U.S. even if a health emergency forces their classes online later in the school year. And the government will reject visa requests from international students at colleges or universities that only offer classes online.

A judge is set to begin hearing arguments in the case Tuesday. If the judge does not suspend the rule, colleges across the U.S. will have until Wednesday to notify ICE if they plan to be fully⁴ online this fall.

What does ICE say?

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE say the policy is backed by existing law. The law bans foreign students from taking all of their classes online while in the U.S.

In a court brief filed on Monday, the agencies said ICE suspended the rule in March because of the coronavirus crisis. But it told universities that the temporary rule was subject to change.

ICE says the rule is "a measured transition to begin a move toward reopening schools and allowing students to return to classrooms."

A group of 59 universities submitted their own legal brief in the case. They say the new rule forces schools across the nation to "choose between opening their campuses regardless of the public health risks, or forcing their international students to leave the country."

The group includes other Ivy⁵ League universities and schools like Stanford and Duke. Those schools have more than 213,000 international students.

"These students are core members of our institutions," the schools wrote. "They make valuable contributions to our classrooms, campuses and communities — contributions that have helped make American higher education the envy of the world."

The colleges are asking the court to block the rule as quickly as possible. They say it has been used to turn students away. A DePaul University student was prevented from entering the U.S. after arriving in San Francisco last week. And Harvard previously⁶ said one of its students from Belarus was turned away from a flight at an airport in the capital Minsk.

A different group of 180 colleges told the federal court in Boston that they were "blindsided" by the policy.

The group, known as the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said the March 13 guidance from ICE had permitted online education for foreign students "for the duration of the emergency." They point to information suggesting the number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. is higher now than it was in March.

"All seem to agree the emergency remains⁷ ongoing⁸, but ICE's policy has inexplicably⁹ changed," the group wrote.

The alliance also says colleges and communities risk losing millions of dollars over the new visa policy. Northern Virginia Community College, for example, estimates it could lose nearly $10 million in tuition from foreign students. And New York City says international students bring in more than $3 billion per year.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

transfer – v. to move from one school to another

transition – n. the change from one condition to another

allow – v. permit

contribution – n. the act of giving something

envy – n. something that cause desire

blindside – v. to surprise or shock

duration – n. the length of time that something lasts or exists

inexplicably – adv. not able to understand

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句