ICE Rescinds New Guidelines, No Longer Mandating International Students Take In-Person Classes to Avoid Deportation

Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23

By Casey Roepke ’21

News Editor

The Trump administration and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently rescinded a July 6 directive which would have stripped international students of their visas. This reversal in policy comes after a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Days later, the universities were joined in suing the Trump administration by 17 states, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. 

The original July 6 policy was set to bar international students from obtaining visas if their college classes were conducted entirely online. Those students, who were either attending colleges without in-person classes or were unable to reside on campus, would have been required to return to their respective countries of residence. 

Bri Rhodes, director of international student advising at the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, wrote an email to international students on July 6. In the email, she wrote: “Mount Holyoke College is aware of guidelines released today by the federal government regarding on-line coursework by international students next academic year. While Mount Holyoke’s curriculum has both in-person and online components, this guidance does not address many of the unique situations in which our international students find themselves.” 

Because the College’s official fall plan indicates that juniors and seniors will not generally reside on campus, the July 6 directive raised concerns for international students — particularly juniors and seniors — at Mount Holyoke. 

“International students of all years are eligible to apply for on-campus housing, so we recommend anyone wanting to remain in the United States for the fall to apply as soon as possible,” Rhodes wrote. “We know this uncertainty is difficult, please know that the College is working on this as a top priority and we will share additional information just as soon as possible.”

According to The New York Times, “To maintain their status, many international students raced this week to enroll in in-person classes, even if they were not connected to their majors, and students at nearly a dozen universities started an online spreadsheet so that American students could try to swap in-person course spots with their foreign classmates.”

On July 8, Mount Holyoke President Sonya Stephens sent a statement to the College community regarding the ICE guidelines. In the statement, she wrote, “This action is of grave concern to us, putting at risk the wellbeing, education, aspirations and freedom of our international students, and the millions of other students and graduates pursuing education and work in the U.S.”

Stephens added, “It is particularly challenging and especially aggrieving in the current context of anti-immigrant rhetoric, stigmatization of Asian individuals in response to COVID-19 and the ongoing brutality and racism experienced by so many.”

Stephens wrote that the College supports these lawsuits, and Mount Holyoke was a signatory on an amicus brief in support of Harvard and MIT’s lawsuit challenging the regulation. According to Stephens’ statement, the College will make international students a priority in on-campus housing applications. It is unclear whether, following the rollback of the regulation, international students will still be prioritized in this way.