Don’t let international students choose between health and their education.
On Monday, The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) announced that international students currently in the US on F1 and M1 visas will be required to leave the US or transfer to a school with in-person learning formats if their current school is operating full-time virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides the emotional, mental and physical repercussions of uprooting their lives during an already stressful time, this directive is a double-edged, xenophobic sword: inhumane exploitation of the education system to re-open for in-person teaching before safe, while also increasing pressure on universities to increase tuition rates on already financially burdened students and families.
There are many ways to take action to keep our international students from having to uproot their lives and/or risk their health:
ICE’s international students directive is a double-edged, xenophobic sword. Here are many ways to take action: Share on X- Call your local or state college and university to see what their COVID-19 class policies are and ask what measures they are taking to protect international students at this time. Some universities have filed lawsuits against the Administration, and have taken public stances denouncing the directive.
- Sign a petition and spread the word: Here is the White House Petition and Change.org Petition.
- Share resources to your international student friends, families, or peers: check out the Call to Action to Help International Students
