F1 Students Ban Lawsuit by Harvard & MIT (Court Decision?)

Update July 14, 2020: Good News! Trump government has agreed to take the F-1 notification back that asked students to leave the US if their classes were happening online for the Fall 2020 semester.

You can now stay in the USA:

• Online classes allowed.
• No status violation.
• ICE will not deport.
• New F1, M1 student visa can be applied and issued if the US embassy is open.
• No new I-20 required.

As per the CNN and WSJ reports, the Trump government is now thinking about banning only new F1 and M1 student’s entry in the USA for the fall 2020 semester.

Interestingly, the court judge has kept the case open in-case ICE comes out with a new policy. The same judge will hear the case again.

But after today’s court case win, new F1, M1 visa can be applied and issued if the US embassy is open until any new executive order is signed or a new policy is announced.

Attorney Greg Siskind reported first on Twitter that no new I-20s needed. F1 and M1 students can stay in the US.

Earlier on July 13, the Hill reported that tech companies including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and PayPal have joined the student visa ban litigation.

Interestingly, none of these companies have step forward for the H1B travel ban.

As reported by Law360:

• Trump Government wants to go slow and asked for time to get response from other government agencies. They want to let the July 15 deadline pass.
• But, Judge Burroughs made it clear that something needs to be done by July 15.
• Judge gave the government two choices: Either agree to a brief stay of the policy to allow time for a comprehensive response, or proceed directly to a preliminary injunction hearing early next week.

Earlier, Harvard and MIT came together to challenge the ICE’s order of forcing universities to hold in-person classes.

The guidance issued by DHS for students currently in the USA was to leave and return to their home country if their school was holding all online classes during the fall 2020 semester.

This was of course different than the guidance DHS shared at the start of Coronavirus national emergency declaration in March 2020.

The litigation challenges the Trump government’s order based on the fact that ICE and DHS did explicitly allowed to hold online classes until the emergency was active.

Lawsuit Points

The litigation claims:

• Contagious Disease: COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease that spreads from humans to humans in close contact situations.
• In-person classes will endanger community life: Densely populated classrooms that are attendant with on-campus instruction have the potential to turn into “super-spreader” situations that endanger the health of not only the university community but also those in the surrounding areas and anyone else with whom community members may come into contact.
• No time allowed to make changes: ICE requires schools whose classes would be entirely online to submit an “operational change plan” no later than Wednesday, July 15, 2020—nine days after the change was announced.
• ICE did not care for Student & faculty Health: ICE has forced the order on universities without showing credible proof that they have thought about the health of students and faculty.
• Forced Reopening: Federal government’s order seems to be a forced order and the goal is to create as much chaos for universities and international students as possible.
• ICE’s action is against APA: Universities have been planning the 2020-2021 academic year for months based on ICE’s march guidance allowing international students to remain in the country even if their studies had been moved entirely online.

FAQ

Harvard Lawsuit Text