Photo by Taylor Helmes.
By Jasmine Nguyen, Editor-in-Chief
Updated at 5:26 p.m.: Chancellor Timothy P. White, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and several other universities announced Thursday the State of California will file a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration for their recent policy that threatened international student’s currently studying in the U.S. through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). This comes after backlash towards the July 6 announcement by U.S. Information Customs and Enforcement (ICE) that stated non-immigrant students on F-1 and M-1 visas were not allowed to take a full course load online and continue to stay in the country.
“The California State University stands in the strongest opposition to the policy guidance issued Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Chancellor White said in the press release.
President Thomas A. Parham Wednesday added California State University, Dominguez Hills to the rising number of colleges and universities stunned and outraged by new federal regulations that could force international students out of the country if their colleges do not provide in-person classes.
“I am shocked and saddened by the guidance that has been provided and the restrictions that have been put in place,” Parham wrote, but he also said that CSUDH is committed to doing everything possible to keep its international students from having to leave the country.
“CSUDH stands with our international students, and we are working diligently to find and implement workable solutions that will meet the new criteria for maintaining student visas,” Parham wrote. “ We are aware that opposition to this new policy is already taking shape, and CSUDH, in consultation with the Chancellor’s Office, is meeting to consider a range of next steps.”
Havard and M.I.T filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a federal court in Massachusetts to prevent the enforcement of the guidelines, which were issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Today, the University of California announced it will seek a temporary restraining against ICE from enforcing the order, which UC President Janet Napolitano said was, “mean-spirited, arbitrary and damaging to America.”
Other universities are trying to interpret the language of the order in order to determine how they can comply with it but also meet the needs of their international students.
Multiple media outlets reported yesterday a statement by the California State University system that the Chancellor’s Office, “is currently working with individual campuses to re-review online and in-person offerings to determine if they meet the new ICE directives.”
In his statement Wednesday, Parham said the university will continue supporting its international students.
“We at CSUDH strongly believe that ICE’s shortsighted, heavy-handed decision runs counter to both basic human decency and responsible health practices,” he wrote. “It also flies in the face of a long-cherished value that promises to create a safe and wholesome learning environment for inquisitive minds in which discovery, knowledge acquisition, innovation, creativity, and critical thinking can take place.”
As this situation is constantly changing, the Bulletin will continue to update and report on how this policy will effect our campus.
Link to the full email sent by President Parham.
