The Trump administration continues to use the circumstances of the novel coronavirus to attack the immigrant community. Last month Donald Trump chose to target H1-B and other temporary work visa holders and this week he has moved on to international students. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Monday that international students in the U.S. whose schools have opted for online classes for the fall semester, in efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, will no longer be welcome in the U.S.
According to the new rule, foreign nationals attending school in the U.S. are not allowed to take a full online course load if they wish to stay in the country. "The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States,” the ICE news release stated. For students on F-1 and M-1 visas, whose universities and colleges have opted for online-only learning, only two options remain: departing the country or “transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," ICE said in the news release.
As a response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), an ICE institution that sets rules for student visas, temporarily allowed for foreign students to take their spring and summer 2020 courses online while remaining in the U.S. Prior to the temporary exemption, those on F-1 and M-1 non-immigrant student visas were required to take at least one in-person class to maintain status in addition to being enrolled in an academic university full time. In its announcement Monday, ICE ended the temporary exemption and said foreign students who do not transfer to in-person programs and remain in the country while enrolled in just online courses could face "immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."
The announcement follows schools nationwide making the decision to transition completely online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, hours before ICE’s statement, Harvard University announced its decision to conduct all classes online for the upcoming academic year. Following ICE’s announcement, Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow issued a statement condemning the guidelines. “We are deeply concerned that the guidance issued today by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement imposes a blunt, one-size-fits-all approach to a complex problem, giving international students, particularly those in online programs, few options beyond leaving the country or transferring schools,” Bacow wrote. He added that: “this guidance undermines the thoughtful approach taken on behalf of students by so many institutions, including Harvard, to plan for continuing academic programs while balancing the health and safety challenges of the global pandemic.”
Other schools have announced to bring back students but for shorter semesters and mainly online classes. These hybrid models in which schools plan to mix in-person and online learning will allow for international students to take more than one class online, ICE said, however still require them to partake in the offered in-person learning. Current student visa regulations limit F-1 students from being able to take more than one online class; students on M-1 visas for vocational programs are not allowed to enroll in any online classes.
With a majority of schools shifting to online courses for the academic year, transferring becomes more difficult. As COVID-19 infections increase across the U.S. daily, the Trump administration continues to prove it does not care about the health or safety of students or foreigners by encouraging them to transfer to schools with in-person learning or to leave amid a pandemic. While some American students can benefit from their nationality and stay at home to learn, foreign students must risk catching and spreading the virus to ensure their immigration status stays put.
The new rule also puts universities and colleges in another tough spot: either lose international students and their tuition or risk increasing the number of COVID-19 infections by offering in-person learning. Foreign students, who pay sometimes double the price of tuition with little or no financial aid, pour millions into the U.S. economy. According to the nonprofit Institute of International Education, more than 1 million of the country's higher education students come from overseas; in 2018 the Commerce Department reported that international students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy.
In addition to contributing to the economy, the new rule fails to acknowledge restrictions on travel in place due to the coronavirus. Many foreigners have been unable to return home as travel restrictions worldwide continue. "These are not some fly-by-night universities, these aren't scams, these are legit universities who would normally have in-person curricula but for coronavirus," Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told CNN. "The bigger issue is some of these countries have travel restrictions on and they can't go home, so what do they do then?" she added. "It's a conundrum for a lot of students.”
Outside of travel, international students may face other obstacles in having to leave the country and in accessing online learning in their home countries, including time differences, lack of access to course materials, and reliable internet service. This decision to threaten foreign students to go home amid a pandemic if they do not risk contracting COVID-19 by attending in-person classes not only puts the lives of foreigners at risk but Americans as a whole. It’s just another aspect of the Trump administration’s xenophobic agenda. This move must be condemned.