July 14, 2020
New Rule is a Dramatic and Illegal
Reversal from Previous Guidance; Imposes Significant Harms on Students, Schools
and Economy
Carson City,
NV – Nevada Attorney
General Aaron D. Ford and 17 attorneys general filed a lawsuit to halt a new
federal rule that threatens to bar hundreds of thousands of international
students from studying in the U.S.
The coalition’s
complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) challenges
what the attorneys general call the federal government’s “cruel, abrupt, and
unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has
wrought death and disruption across the United States.” AG Ford is suing to prevent
the entire rule from going into effect.
In Nevada, it
is anticipated that thousands of international students would be affected by
this rule. The Nevada System of Higher Education opposes the new federal rule due to the
potential adverse effects on local students and colleges, and recognizes “the
valuable cultural and intellectual contributions the more than 2,000
international students make to Nevada’s eight public higher education
institutions.”
“In the middle
of an unprecedented pandemic, the Trump Administration shows no concern for the
health and safety of our students,” said AG Ford. “By pressuring
colleges and universities to provide in-person instruction, they’re putting the
lives of our youth, instructors and all higher education staff at risk. As your
attorney general, I believe the job of my office is justice, and fighting the
Trump Administration’s attacks on our students is no exception.”
The lawsuit
challenges an abrupt policy change by ICE to reverse guidance issued on March
13, 2020 that recognized the COVID-19 public health emergency, provided
flexibility for schools, and allowed international students with F-1 and M-1
visas to take classes online for the duration of the emergency. On July 6th,
ICE announced that international students can no longer live in the U.S. and
take all of their classes online during the pandemic. This announcement upends
months of careful planning by colleges and universities to limit in-person
instruction in favor of remote learning and adapt their coursework for the fall
semester, and leaves thousands of students with no other choice but to leave
the country.
ICE further
demanded that educational institutions advise the federal government by July 15th
whether they intend to offer only remote courses in the fall semester, and by
August 4th to certify for each of the institutions’ international
students that the student’s upcoming coursework this fall will be in-person or
a “hybrid” of in-person and online learning in order to maintain their visa
status. This demand comes not only amidst an ongoing nationwide emergency, but
also at a time when many faculty, staff and students are not on campus and may
not even be in the country. Students may not have registered for their classes
for the fall, and schools and individual teaching staff members may not yet
have determined whether their classes will be held remotely, in-person, or a
combination of the two.
The lawsuit
details the substantial harms that the new rule places on schools and students.
It also alleges that the federal government’s actions are arbitrary, capricious
and an abuse of discretion because they reversed previous guidance without
explanation, input or rationale, in violation of the Administrative Procedure
Act.
The attorneys
general say the new rule and abrupt reversal of the previous guidance threatens
their states in the following ways:
- Fails
to consider the health and safety of students, faculty and staff;
- Fails
to consider the tremendous costs and administrative burden they would impose on
schools to readjust plans and certify students;
- Fails
to consider that, for many international students, remote learning in the
countries where they come from is not possible;
- Imposes
significant financial harm to schools, as international students pay hundreds
of millions of dollars in tuition, housing, dining and other fees;
- Imposes
harm to schools’ academic, extracurricular and cultural communities, as
international students contribute invaluable perspectives and diverse
skillsets; and
- Forces
colleges and universities to offer in-person classes amid a pandemic or lose
significant numbers of international students who will either have to leave the
country, transfer or disenroll from the school.
The lawsuit
also alleges the new rule imposes significant economic harm by precluding
thousands of international students from coming to and residing in the U.S.,
and finding employment in fields such as science, technology, biotechnology,
healthcare, business and finance, and education, and contributing to the
overall economy.
In addition to
Nevada, attorneys general from the following states are participating in the
lawsuit: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
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