17 states sue Trump administration for threatening to revoke visas for foreign students

The schools accused the government of 'throwing preparations into disarray and causing significant harm and turmoil' 'The emergency persists, yet the government's policy has suddenly and drastically changed,' one brief signed by 59 schools says They said they relied on previous guidance allowing foreign students to take all-online classes 'for the duration of the pandemic' when planning the fall semester Over 200 schools filed amicus briefs in support of the Harvard and MIT lawsuit Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led the way by filing their own lawsuit last week The suit aims to block Trump's rule that would bar foreign students from remaining in the US if their universities are not holding in-person classes Seventeen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's plan strip international students of their visas if all of their classes move online due to coronavirus. Fifty-nine US universities have filed a brief supporting a lawsuit by Harvard and MIT over the Trump administration's plan to strip international students of their visas if all their classes move online. What Trump's new policy means for international students The Trump administration declared on July 6 that it would not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online because of the COVID-19 crisis. In a lawsuit filed last Wednesday in the US District Court for Massachusetts, Harvard and MIT asked a judge to temporarily block the rule that would bar foreign students from remaining in the US if their universities are not holding any in-person classes this fall The lawsuit from Harvard and MIT argues that Trump's new policy is 'illegal' The State Department responded to the uproar over the ICE policy last week, saying that international students are still welcome in the US.