SMC and its International Students left dealing with the impacts of ICE's directive
On July 6th, 2020, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that students on F-1 visas must leave the country if their school began offering online education only. This directive put students and institutions in a precarious situation, and even though it was eventually rescinded, they are still dealing with the consequences.
Ophelie Le Houx and other international students have had their time in the U.S. threatened by “The July 6 Directive,” which states that any international student attending online-only schools must transfer to an in person institution or leave the country before the start of the fall semester. In Los Angeles, Calif., Sept. 21, 2020. (Brian Adler | The Corsair)
ICE released its official response to the COVID-19 global pandemic on March 13, 2020, the same day that President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency. The initial ICE regulation allowed international students to pursue online education either in the U.S. or abroad for the duration of the pandemic and maintain their F-1 visa status as active.
However, on July 6, ICE issued a new document, “The July 6 Directive", which proclaimed modifications to the initial regulation. This directive stated that F-1 students attending online-only schools must either transfer to an in-person institution or otherwise leave the country before the beginning of the Fall semester. The announcement immediately caused chaos among many students and institutions all over the U.S.
Communications major Ophelie Le Houx, is one of the many international students attending Santa Monica College (SMC). She was born and raised on Réunion Island, a French colony in the Indian Ocean, and has lived in the U.S. since September 2018.“I saw the news on Twitter, and I got very anxious and worried because that was changing all the plans I had made for my future. Everything fell apart in one second; it was so unexpected,” LeHoux said.
Pressian Nicolov, the Dean of SMC's International Education Office, said he was shocked when he found out about ICE’s directive through a notification on his phone.
“I started reading it, and I did all I could do to not fall down in the middle of the street," Nicolov said. "It literally cut my knees off."
According to Nicolov, SMC immediately activated its resources to face the problem in the best way possible. SMC scheduled multiple zoom meetings with its F-1 students to keep them updated on the situation.
“Even though we started planning the transition to a hybrid institution, the most painful thing was that we could not give students an answer because these regulations were kind of specific in one way and very vague in another,” Nicolov said. “We focused on easing student’s fear and anger.”
On July 8, Harvard and MIT filed a lawsuit against ICE’s directive, which Nicolov saw as a game-changer and "an amazing case, nobody could have argued against it.” The lawsuit states that “ICE’s rescission of that recognition failed to consider numerous weighty interests, and is itself arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion.”
Students like LeHoux also felt relieved when they heard that major universities were fighting against ICE. LeHoux said she "started to be more hopeful, and realized that things weren’t definitive at all."
The lawsuit's effects were seen immediately. The case did not end up making it to court because ICE backed off the decision right before the hearing. On July 14, 2020, only a week after ICE's restrictive regulations were announced and multiple lawsuits were filed, ICE walked back on their directive.
Even though ICE did not go through with the directive, many students decided to leave. According to Nicolov, approximately half of the SMC international students left the country due to the uncertain times.“
The institution lost a lot of money due to the decline in numbers. Some international students that went back home did not pursue their studies remotely, and we also experienced a fall in new enrollments,” Nicolov said.
SMC is pursuing the idea of becoming a hybrid institution in the Spring to encourage international students that are abroad to return to the U.S., according to Nicolov. Currently, students that returned to their home countries are not allowed to re-enter the state due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions; only U.S. citizens are allowed to freely re-enter the country. However, students that left and have not enrolled full-time for the Fall semester lost their F-1 status.
Nicolov said that the transition to hybrid classes is a good compromise and it might also encourage new enrollments. “Everybody, from the president to the faculty and the staff loves the international students and sees them as a top priority,” Nicolov said. “In my 25 year career in this field, I have never seen anything like that, such devotion and care.”
