Dear Senator Minority Whip Durbin, Senator Duckworth, and Representative Bost,
I am an independent voter who is deeply concerned about the fact that under ICE’s new rules, international students must choose between attending in-person classes during a pandemic or taking them online from another country.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still spiking in the United States, requiring colleges and universities to open for in-person instruction is unsafe and unnecessary. But the new SEVP modifications announced on July 6 by ICE force institutions to choose between putting the health of their students and instructors at risk or losing their international students.
International students pay the highest rates of tuition to colleges and universities — money that often subsidizes the tuition of domestic students. ICE’s recent decision to force students to leave the country if they cannot access in-person classes due to the pandemic is unfair on many levels.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international students comprised over 5% of U.S. college enrollment and contributed approximately $45 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in 2018.
If a student begins the fall semester with in-person classes but is later required to switch to online instruction because their school determines the risk of in-person instruction is too great, the student has ten days to leave the country, transfer to another institution, or take other action to remain in lawful status. If they do not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.
America thrives when we attract foreign talent and intellect to our shores, but the number of new international students choosing to study in the United States has steadily decreased over the last four years as we become a less welcoming country.
Losing foreign students would be a huge blow to university budgets and will impact domestic students as well, whose tuition is lowered by the full tuition paid by international students. Similarly, forcing individuals to attend classes in person presents health risks to everyone present at the institution.
At a time when our leaders should be doing everything they can to reopen our country safely, we need flexibility for universities to make decisions that are best for their community members, not decrees that punish individuals and institutions for trying to implement best-case options to allow students to continue their education online, in person, or through a combination of both during unprecedented times.
I want my representatives to understand that this policy will have tangible adverse economic consequences in our state and may end up aggravating attempts to control the COVID-19 virus.
Given the value of foreign students to our country and the unprecedented health crisis we are facing, I would ask that all our students — foreign and domestic — be granted the ability to continue their studies without fear for their health or, in the case of our visiting students, the looming specter of possible deportation.
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