Friend,

In a pandemic, the Trump Administration just gave international students studying in the U.S. an impossible choice. If their universities determine it is safer to transition to online-only learning for the Fall 2020 semester, they must leave the country or face deportation.

This cruel and chaotic policy will upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of foreign-born students and force people in the U.S. to travel across international borders during a deadly pandemic, putting everyone’s health at risk.

We cannot allow the Trump Administration to once again gut America’s global competitiveness while putting the health, safety, and economic well being of our country at risk all for the purpose of restricting legal immigration. The futures of hundreds of thousands of international students need our urgent attention now.

Call your member of Congress now and demand they act to protect foreign-born students and denounce the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to restrict legal immigration.

The new policy is a reversal for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the agency that runs the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for international students. In March 2020, the agency told international students living in the United States, that because of the COVID-19 crisis, they would be allowed to remain in the country even if their schools had transitioned to online learning.

Despite the fact that COVID-19 cases are surging across the United States, ICE has now reversed course. The change in policy comes with no explanation and creates even more chaos and confusion for international students living and studying in the United States. More than 800,000 international students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities for the 2018-2019 school year.

The Administration’s refusal to accommodate international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities in the midst of a deadly pandemic is yet another unnecessary attack on immigrants and a self-inflicted blow to America’s global leadership.

Congress needs to hear from you right now: demand your representatives act now to protect international students before the school year starts.

Thank you for using your voice for international students today,

Ali Procopio
University Program Director, FWD.us