After the prestigious universities of Harvard and MIT on the east coast of the United States, it is California which decided, Thursday July 9, to challenge in court the decision of the government of Donald Trump to revoke the visas for the students foreigners whose lessons will remain virtual at the start of the school year.
The federal immigration and customs police (ICE) announced on Monday that foreign students would not be allowed to stay on American soil if their universities decided, because of a pandemic, to teach only online at the start of the academic year. 'autumn.
This measure, which potentially affects tens of thousands of students in California, is deemed "Illegal" by the state’s federal prosecutor, Xavier Becerra, supported in his lawsuit by California public higher education officials.
"Shame on the Trump government for not only threatening students' chances of going to university, but also their health and well-being" by forcing them to physically attend group lessons despite the Covid-19 pandemic, wrote prosecutor Becerra in a press release.
10,300 students in "an extremely difficult position"
California, the most populous state in the United States and one of the main outbreaks of Covid-19 in the country, is currently recording more than 8,000 new cases daily, for a total of nearly 300,000.
"This lawsuit is based on the proven principle in America that anyone who works hard and follows the rules can have a chance to progress", he says.
The California state attorney, who has engaged in multiple legal tug-of-war with the Trump government since the Conservative billionaire took office, also notes that this decision to restrict student visas could weigh heavily on university finances, already hard hit by the health crisis.
The chancellor of the California public universities, a network that represents only a small part of higher education in the state, has denounced a "Brutal and rigid policy". It places its approximately 10,300 foreign students "In an extremely difficult position" and deprives the educational community and the United States "Of their contribution"said Timothy White.
