After spring break, most, if not all colleges and universities transitioned to online learning to complete the spring and summer semesters. For the over one million international students that were attending school in the US, ICE made a temporary exception allowing these students to continue with their fully online course load, which would not normally be allowed. However, on July 6, ICE announced that this exception would be rolled back, and all international students that wish to stay on campus must take at least one in-person course. According to the ICE statement, if students cannot meet this restriction, they must take other measures such as transferring to a school that offers in-person courses, or they will not be issued a student visa.

Many schools, such as Harvard and the University of Southern California, have already announced that they plan to hold exclusively or primarily online courses in the fall, so international students who were planning to attend these institutions may not have a way to continue their studies. Students at schools that will offer in-person courses may have to weigh their personal safety with the benefits of being on campus. For many students, not being able to stay on campus means no way to continue their graduate research, or to look for a job they have spent years in school working towards.

In response to this new restriction, Harvard, MIT, and the state of California are suing the Trump administration in separate lawsuits for what the California attorney general calls a “morally reprehensible” act. Over 100 members of Congress have signed a letter condemning the rule, with Sen. Susan Collins calling for an extension of the exemption international students were given for the spring and summer. With the semester starting in just around a month, time is running out for these legal battles to be resolved in time for international students to make a decision about what they will do in the fall.