Dear Senator Lee, Senator Romney, and Representative McAdams,

I am a recent graduate from BYU, now living in Millcreek. I still have contact with my friends and colleagues in Provo, and many of them are international students. I was just speaking with one of these friends, and she told me of her fear that she may not be able to finish out the school year because of the recent ICE policy.

It is unreasonable to force international students to risk their health during a pandemic to attend in-person classes. Additionally, transferring to a different university comes with many difficulties, including the fact that not all credits will transfer to a different academic institution, which means that the students’ hard work will have been for nothing.

On top of that, ICE’s policy states that if a school switches to online instruction, international students have only ten days to leave the country, transfer to another institution, or take other action to remain in lawful status. This is no time at all — just over a week to get all of their affairs in order? This is unreasonable. 

Please, I ask you to consider the health and well-being of our international students. Allow them to remain in the U.S. even if they are taking only online classes.

Regards,
Halli (Utah)