According to media reports, top US Universities have stepped up and sought legal action by filing a lawsuit against the Trump Government over the controversial order of the US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ICE recently released an order for not renewing the F1 and M1 Visas for Fall Semester foreign students. The universities which have taken legal action against the government include Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Reason For Legal Action
As soon as the order was issued by the ICE, the academicians, policymakers, and Universities across the country came out in support of the students against the order issued. A lawsuit was filed by the universities against the order at the Massachusetts District Court listing the defendants as ICE and the United States Department of Homeland Security.
The order is perceived as the administration's way to put pressure on educational institutions to re-open schools and colleges amidst the pandemic. In a tweet, US President Donald Trump stated that the US has to get back as soon as possible. He further stated that he does not consider the country coming back if the schools are closed.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow stated that the order came without notice and ‘its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness’. He further stated that it looks like it was designed to place pressure on colleges and universities to re-open their campus classrooms for on-person instructions this fall semester without considering the health and safety of the students, instructors, and others.
The top Universities have expressed their distress over the order asking the court in the legal suit to block the order given by the Trump administration calling it random and sudden. The order which was issued by the ICE to revoke the visa status of the foreign students whose universities have decided to shift the Fall Semester online would have impacted millions of students.
While emphasizing their concern for the foreign students the universities have pointed out how the order will harm the students personally and financially. By stating the order as reckless and random, the universities have asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunctive relief preventing the policy to be enforced.
Along with this, the universities have also asked for the order to be declared as unlawful and asked for any other relief that the court deems as appropriate.
Order issued as a way to reopen schools and colleges
The order was issued by the administration right about the same time that Harvard University announced its decision to move the classes online for the next semester amidst the COVID-19 pandemic threat and the present situation in the country. In the order, the administration has asked the foreign students whose courses have been moved online due to the pandemic to either go back to their respective countries or transfer to a school offering in-person tuitions.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow further stated that the university will pursue this case vigorously so that the international students at Harvard and across the different universities can continue to study in the US without the threat of deportation.
About the UD Visa Revoke Order
The United States recently issued an order which stated that the F1 and M1 Student Visa issued to the international students whose courses have been shifted online due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The order states that the students will have to either go back to their respective countries or transfer to a school offering in-person tuition.
With respect to the universities which offer both online and offline classes, they are required to show that the foreign students at the universities are taking as many classes as possible in order to maintain their status as per the rules of the Student Visa.
The order issued by the ICE however has left millions of students studying in the different universities in the country wondering about their future in the US. the United States has close to 1.1 million foreign students on F1 and M1 Visas from which close to 26 percent are Indian students. With the recent talks between the US and India, the Indian students have received some kind of relief.
Also Read: US student visa: Relief for students holding F1 and M1 Visas, Check details here
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