Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration to block international student ban

The lawsuit seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security stripping international students of their visas as schools move to classes online

Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have sued the Trump administration over a measure that bans foreign students from staying in the country if their classes are held exclusively online next Fall.

The federal lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Boston, seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security from stripping international students of their student visas and making them go back to their native countries as the coronavirus pandemic forces schools to move most classes online.

The Ivy League schools are requesting a 14-day restraining order and permanent injunction against the measure, which was announced on Monday by DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“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 claimed in court, according to the Boston Globe.

They added that “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’ lawyers cited a previous DHS measure from March that dictated international students were allowed to stay in the country. They also mentioned that for foreign students from conflict zones it would be impossible to attend classes online because of both civil unrest and lack of access to the internet.

Harvard announced on Monday that it would be moving all of its courses online for the next Fall term. The university told CNN this measure would affect approximately 5,000 students.

On Tuesday President Donald Trump lashed out at the prestigious university for its decision to move all classes online, calling it “ridiculous”.

“I think it’s an easy way out. And I think they ought to be ashamed of themselves,” he said during a White House roundtable discussion.