In its latest attempt to use the pandemic to crack down on immigration, the Trump administration announced it will force international students across the country to leave the U.S. if their colleges and universities shift classes online this fall, Rafael Bernal reports for The Hill. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which is run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced that students whose courses have shifted online must transfer to in-person programs or risk “immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.” If the school is offering a hybrid online/in-person model, students will have to “certify” their course loads are not entirely online. The announcement comes as elite colleges like Harvard — where international students made up 12% of those admitted to the class of 2022 — have shared plans to hold classes entirely online next school year.

International student enrollment “has steadily decreased from its high point in 2015-2016 school year” under the Trump administration, Bernal writes. That’s bad news for the U.S. economy: according to the Forum’s fact sheet, “[i]nternational students attending U.S. colleges and universities contribute $41 billion to the economy each year, making education a vital U.S. export and a significant trade surplus. They contribute an additional $10 billion to the economy in spending outside of tuition and are responsible for supporting over 458,000 jobs.”

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected]. 

TAKE 2? – The Trump administration is expected to refile paperwork this week to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Brett Samuels reports for The Hill: “The decision to refile on DACA was widely expected after the Supreme Court ruled last month that the administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating the program as required by federal law. But the court made clear Trump had the authority to rescind the program, essentially forcing the president to try again or risk the appearance of backing down.” Politico’s Caitlin Oprysko reports that on Monday morning’s “Fox & Friends,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows indicated that immigration executive actions are planned for this week.

“INEXPLICABLY ASSUMED” – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday struck down the Trump administration’s 2019 rule requiring asylum seekers at the southern border to first apply for asylum in Mexico, reports Karina Brown for Courthouse News Service. “On Monday, U.S. Circuit Judge William A. Fletcher wrote that the rule is inconsistent with the laws the government claimed it was based on, because it doesn’t ensure the safety of the third country where immigrants must first seek asylum.” While the government may deny asylum in cases where an immigrant could have instead resettled in a safe third country, “the law also requires that third country to have signed an agreement with the U.S., promising safety and a ‘full and fair’ asylum procedure.” The U.S. does not have such an agreement in place with Mexico — and according to the ruling, the administration’s policy “inexplicably assumed” that those applying for asylum in the U.S. before applying in a third country didn’t have a worthwhile asylum claim.

LESSONS – El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz reflects in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News on how the U.S. has abandoned its historic commitment to refugees, citing new rules and racist policies from the Trump administration. “Yesterday, we valued the life of babies, toddlers and children. Today, we run roughshod over bipartisan laws intended to protect them and forcibly return unaccompanied minors, putting them at risk of exploitation, trafficking and the coronavirus. Over 2,000 children have been returned under this new process in just the last few months.” Seitz warns that the country is “forgetting the lessons of history” — such as when our government sent a boat of refugees back to their deaths under the Nazis — and calls on Americans to raise their voices to protect asylum and oppose “cruel measures” at the border.

VISAS IN MICHIGAN – The Trump administration’s new restrictions on employment-based visas will have “real job-killing impacts in Michigan,” argues Steve Tobocman, executive director of Global Detroit, in an op-ed for the Detroit Free Press. “Michigan’s automotive design, manufacturing, engineering and tech sectors are heavy users of the H-1B program. According to federal immigration authorities, Michigan employers secured 4,350 new H-1B visas in fiscal year 2019, in addition to employing another 9,198 existing visa holders. These skilled workers fill highly-skilled positions that companies certify that cannot fill from the U.S. workforce, enabling Michigan companies to develop new products and services that create additional jobs for American co-workers.”

DIVERSIFYING WORKFORCE – As part of a four-part series on racial diversity in fashion, beauty and retail companies for Women’s Wear Daily [paywall], Bridget Foley and Victor Vaughns Jr. break down diversity numbers and what employers are doing to better support employees of color — including immigrants. They note Walmart’s use of the Forum’s New American Workforce portal — “a free and confidential way for associates to apply for United States citizenship.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali