Washington: Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have asked a federal court to temporarily block a Trump administration rule that would bar foreign students from remaining in the United States if their universities are not holding in-person classes this semester, Harvard’s president said in an email on Wednesday.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said in an email addressed to the Harvard community: “Within the last hour, we filed pleadings together with MIT in the US District Court in Boston seeking a temporary restraining order prohibiting enforcement of the order. We will pursue this case vigorously so that our international students – and international students at institutions across the country – can continue their studies without the threat of deportation.”
Raul Romero, a 21-year-old Venezuelan on a scholarship at Ohio’s Kenyon College, spent hours pondering his options after the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday that international students taking classes fully online for the fall semester (from August to December) would have to transfer to a school with in-person classes or leave the country.
