WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — As colleges debate how to reopen for class, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gave foreign students an ultimatum: transfer to a school with in-person classes or depart the country. According to a statement on ICE’s website, nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States. The new policy will affect thousands of students who are already negotiating the COVID-19 pandemic. In reaction to the news, UC Berkeley, Columbia and NYU are creating a one-credit “in-person” classes for these international students so they can’t be deported by ICE.
250 people are back in India after being stranded in the U.S. for months thanks to a yeoman’s effort by newly formed non-profit US India Solidarity Mission. Washington DC-area entrepreneur Ravi Puli, working with a group of volunteers and the Indian embassy, orchestrated the private charter that brought folks with special circumstances back to India.
Ravi Kapur contributed to this report.
