These thoughts were written by Myla, one of our 2020 summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
Before I begin this article, I have to take a deep breath. You might be wondering why I am taking this time to breathe deeply. Well, quite frankly, I am frustrated with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On July 6, the federal law enforcement agency had the audacity to announce a policy that would harm international students in a huge way. Foreign students on F-1 and M-1 visas attending academic institutions operating fully online would not be permitted to stay in the United States (An F-1 visa allows immigrants to enter the United States at an accredited academic institution or language training program, while the M-1 visa includes students in vocational programs or other nonacademic programs). Current international students would have to depart the country or transfer to another university with in-person instruction. When this policy was announced, it struck fear into the hearts of many immigrant students. These students play a huge role in our education system. There are more than one million international students in America. They account for a third of the undergraduate student population.
Thankfully, two days later, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) filed a suit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The two institutions listed several reasons to prevent the agency from enforcing the policy. The policy did not consider the difficult circumstances that COVID-19 has created worldwide, especially for international students. It also had the ability to negatively impact the students, faculty, university staff, and the surrounding community. The policy reflects an effort by the federal government to force universities to reopen in-person classes. In my opinion, ICE’s announcement was in an effort to progress the current administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
However, government leaders and academic institutions in the United States refused to let ICE implement their policies. According to Business Insider, more than 200 colleges backed Harvard and MIT’s case against the Trump administration. A brief was filed on July 13, by 59 colleges including other Ivy League institutions and prestigious schools such as Stanford and Duke, while 17 states and the District of Columbia also decided to stand up to the policy. A separate suit filed by the Princeton Theological Seminary was backed by 26 cities and counties, including New York City and Iowa City, Iowa. Other briefs of support have been filed by scientific associations, student governments, education unions and 71 higher education associations.
Fortunately, the overwhelming amount of immediate backlash that ICE had received caused them to rescind their policy on July 14. This is what happens when you utilize positive peer pressure. When I saw everyone jumping on the bandwagon to go against ICE, I was extremely proud. Sometimes you have to challenge a bully. Honestly, I will never understand how ICE thought that they would get way with enforcing such a cruel policy. If this decision had been enforced, everyone would be affected in a tremendous way. Cities that rely on international students would take a huge hit economically. Academic institutions would be hurt financially. More importantly, American college students, especially incoming freshmen, would be stripped of the opportunity to learn about different cultures. In my opinion, immigrant students enhance our education system. As an entire nation, we need to have more empathy for them.
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