International Students During COVID Times

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unexpected twist in events in 2020 that has caused panic across the globe. Because of this, there were many new policies and rules put into place to try and stop the spread of the virus. Everyone is trying to predict what they think is best to do when we have never had an event like this before and there is no protocol for how to handle it. ICE was one agency that created new policies regarding international students during the pandemic. They ruled that international student who are taking online classes or taking them semester off will not be allowed to stay in the US until the institution opens for in-person classes again. Colleges and universities across the United States were appalled by this and went to court to try and reverse this ruling. You would think that as a society, we would be more accepting than we had been in the past, limiting different races and religions from participating in our scholarly programs, yet we are still being discriminatory. These students have just as much of a right to stay in their new homes during this unprecedented time than any other students do. There is no reason to cause more undo stress on their lives by uprooting their lives and sending them back to their native countries.