Rutgers Joins Harvard, MIT Lawsuit Against New ICE Rules

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — On Friday, Rutgers University announced they are joining a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and MIT against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Rutgers, Harvard and MIT are fighting brand-new guidelines from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the agency announced just this past Monday it would deny visas to international college students who take online-only courses this fall.

Harvard and MIT filed the the suit in federal court in Boston Wednesday. They are seeking a temporary restraining order. A first hearing will be Tuesday.

The new ICE mandate prohibits international students from taking all online courses, at a time when many U.S. colleges — like Rutgers — are only offering online courses this fall.

With their visas not renewed, international college students would be forced to immediately leave the United States.

This means an international student starting their senior year, who has completed three years of study at a U.S. college, would have to drop out of school and leave the country.

Rutgers called the new rules "draconian" for international students and "devastating to colleges across the country." Nearly all the other schools in the Big Ten conference (University of Michigan, Penn State, Northwestern, etc.) and in the Ivy League said they too would be joining the lawsuit.

Some New Jersey colleges have already planned workarounds to circumvent Trump's rule: For example, international students at Monmouth University will be able to register for at least one in-person class to get around the ICE rule. Monmouth University made the announcement Friday.

The lawsuit was announced by new Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway.

Related: Monmouth U. Sets Plan To Keep International Students In The U.S. (July 10, 2020)

Rutgers To Be Mostly Virtual This Fall; Dorms 'Extremely Limited' (July 6, 2020)