Washington universities push back against new ICE international student guidelines
Washington’s universities are urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reconsider its plan to block international students from entering or remaining in the United States if their courses will be fully online.
Organizations including the American Council on Education and the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration are already urging the federal administration to reconsider this proposal. The University of Washington is still analyzing the potential effects of the proposal, but President Ana Mari Cauce said in a statement that university leadership will work with the state’s congressional delegation, federal officials and other higher ed associations to try to change it.
“Taking away that flexibility is cruel and completely oblivious to the reality of the pandemic in this country, which, unlike the outbreaks that many of our allies have tamped down, continues to surge,” Cauce said in the statement. “And at a time when America’s global leadership is under severe strain, during a crisis demanding a spirit of international unity and cooperation, this proposal isn’t just cruel, it’s counterproductive.”
ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program temporarily allowed international students to continue coursework online during spring and summer as Covid-19 spread across the country. At higher education institutions that plan to provide a hybrid of in-person and online instruction in the fall – which applies to most Washington state schools – the proposal wouldn’t allow students on F1 academic visas to enroll in entirely online course loads during the fall.
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