ICE Reverses Directive on International Student Visas

July 14, 2020

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has rescinded its July 6 Directive that would have forced international students to leave the country if their campus offered online-only classes this fall due to the ongoing pandemic. APS leadership was outraged by last week’s ICE ruling, and encouraged its members to call their elected officials and ask them to pressure ICE to reverse this shameful decision. Just yesterday, APS and 16 other scientific societies filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit brought by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology seeking to block ICE from canceling visas of international students.

International students are an essential part of our community and make meaningful contributions to science that are vital to our nation’s economic prosperity. We must continue to work together to fight for and defend the openness and inclusion of the US scientific enterprise that makes the United States a global leader in science and technology.