Recently, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated that they will be sending all international students back to their home country if they do not have any in-person classes.

In a news release Monday, ICE said that students who fall under certain visas "may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States," adding, "The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States."

The decision is outrageous, discriminatory, inhumane, and an attack on our international student friends. It is ridiculous to force international students to leave the country simply because they are taking only online classes. Additionally, many international students have no way of returning home due to strict travel restrictions. For example, Chinese government has restricted international flights into China because of the pandemic, leaving Chinese international students with no way to return home. International students who stay in the US without taking in-person classes risk arrest by ICE and being locked up their detention centers. These detention centers are known to have horrific conditions, be carrying out human rights abuses, and to be hotbeds of COVID-19 transmission. 141 people alone have died while detained in ICE detention centers between October 2003 and December 2013.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University prides itself on diversity and inclusion, and should be doing everything in their power to give international students a choice when it comes to their own health and education. We hope President P. Barry Butler realizes how important and urgent this matter is and we hope to see the change we need. Currently we are set to have in person classes in the fall, but should classes go virtual, I want to make sure that this one credit class is in place so that no student will have to spend their semester worrying.

*This petition description is taken and tweaked from Alexander Tsai's UW Petition*