SARASOTA -The U.S. is known to have the largest international student population; with nearly 5% of all students enrolled in higher-level education studying abroad here in the land of opportunity. But a new requirement has universities scrambling to change plans for the upcoming 2020 Fall Semester.
“It was very shocking to have ICE be the one who came out with this interpretation,” said Dr. Larry Thompson.
In a statement released by Immigration & Customs Enforcement ‘F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States.” Meaning the more than one million students on visas could face deportation.
“For us it’s not as big of a problem because we’re not compromising the educational integrity,” said Dr. Thompson. “But with other art classes it’s not that easy to be online.”
Dr. Thompson, president of Ringling College of Art & Design, says they plan to reopen this fall with very few students being solely enrolled in online classes. With the exception of liberal art courses students are offered to take hybrid classes that would allow them to do work online and also attend in-person classes.
But for other students being deported is a alarming reality.
“Going through all that hard work and then when I’m close to graduating being said you can be kicked out just for no reason was pretty – almost heartbreaking.” said Mehul Patel.
Patel, a first generation college senior is two semester away from graduating with a degree an aerospace mechanical engineer. He says with his upcoming classes all being online he fears his post-graduation plans will be brought to a grinding halt.
“If I have to drop one of my current classes to take a class that would put under eligibility, I may delay my graduation, and then if I delay my graduation I delay my further plans to work,” said Patel.
FWD.us a bipartisan team of political campaigners advocating for common sense immigration reform released a statement to SNN “The obvious goal of this cruel and chaotic policy is to make it much, much harder for foreign-born students in the United States to stay here….complying with this policy is nearly impossible for so many students, as forcing people in the U.S. to travel across international borders during a deadly pandemic puts everyone’s health at risk.”
This new regulation is the latest in a series of pushes from the Trump administration to restrict legal immigration and visas during the covid-19 pandemic.
“I think the policy speaks for itself. You do not get a Visa for taking online classes from the University of Phoenix so why would you if you were just taking online classes generally?” said White House Press Secratery Kayleigh McEnany
And with the start of the semester next moth universities like Harvard, along with MIT are firing back in a lawsuit giving international students a chance to fight for their future.
