Harvard, MIT sue ICE to protect int'l students from 'illegal' rules

The Crimson report said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Tuesday that her office "will sue" over the guidelines, which she called "cruel" and "illegal."

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over new guidelines barring foreign students from remaining in America if their universities switched to online-only classes in the Fall.

A report in The Harvard Crimson said the two educational institutions filed a lawsuit in District Court in Boston on Wednesday morning against the two federal agencies. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to bar the DHS and ICE from the enforcing federal rules that will force international students to leave the US.

Lawrence Bacow, president, Harvard University

'It's bad public policy, illegal'
Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said in an email to affiliates, "We believe the ICE order is bad public policy, and that it is illegal. We'll pursue this case vigorously so that our international students — and those at institutions across the country — can continue their studies without the threat of deportation."

"It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall," the New York Times quoted Bacow as saying. "The DHS will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the US," the ICE had said on Monday.

'Cruel' guidelines
The Crimson report said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Tuesday that her office "will sue" over the guidelines, which she called "cruel" and "illegal."

The Harvard lawsuit argues that the guidelines violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to consider "important aspects of the problem" in advance of its release, failing to provide a reasonable basis for the policy, and failing to adequately notify the public.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda J Claybaugh said in a panel Monday that Vice Provost for International Affairs Mark C. Elliot is also contacting ambassadors on behalf of international students.

"As a university with a profound commitment to residential education, we hope and intend to resume full in-person instruction as soon as it is safe and responsible to do so," Bacow said. "But, until that time comes, we will not stand by to see our international students' dreams extinguished by a deeply misguided order. We owe it to them to stand up and to fight"and we will."

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