Days after Trump administration barred students to stay in the United States if their universities have completely moved to online classes and even threatened them with deportation, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, on July 13, joined a lawsuit filed by the Harvard University and MIT against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
They companies were also joined by at least 17 states in the US including New Jersey, Colorado and others in filing another lawsuit against the new temporary visa policy for international students announced by the Trump administration to restrict international travel in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The companies, along with the US Chamber of Commerce and other IT advocacy groups, stated that the order will disrupt their recruiting plans, making it impossible to bring on board international students that businesses had planned to hire, and hinder the recruiting process.
‘International students are an important source of employees for US businesses while they are students and after they graduate. Finally, they become valuable employees and customers of US businesses whether they remain in the United States or return to their home countries,’ the companies said.
The US will ‘nonsensically be sending these graduates away to work for our global competitors and compete against us instead of capitalising on the investment in their education here in the US’, the companies said.
‘Closing off more than half of all international students from participating in the recruiting pipeline for American businesses will thus harm companies and the entire economy, and disrupt reliance expectations based on prior policies permitting international students to remain in the US,’ the firms added.
International students living in the US make a considerable contribution to the country’s GDP, IT companies in the US have claimed.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, in a statement said that the Trump administration did not even attempt to explain the basis for this ‘senseless’ rule, which compels schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses.
Also Read: US To Withdraw Foreign Students’ Visas If Universities Completely Move To Online Classes
