US defends ban on student visas for online-only classes

The Trump administration defended new rules barring visas for foreign students taking only-online classes at US colleges.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a brief Monday opposing a lawsuit by Harvard University and MIT against a government policy requiring international students to take at least one in-person class, despite the risks of the coronavirus pandemic.

The colleges, supported by dozens of states and cities and some of the country’s largest tech corporations, argue the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to adequately consider the ways its enactment could harm students.

The government wrote in its brief that “if ICE had not considered the schools impacted by its decision, or the vast differences among them regarding plans for reopening in the fall, perhaps the agency would have completely rescinded its March 9, 2020 broadcast message” that students could take all their classes online during the pandemic.

Instead, ICE now requires at least one in-person class for schools under a hybrid model but permits more online classes than it normally would.

The new directive was announced last Monday, after Harvard announced a reopening plan involving almost exclusively online classes.