I'm an international student affected by the new policies the ICE released today.

I'd like to go into detail about the new ICE regulations regarding international students, the problems that come from it, and what to do next.

I hope by the end of it you'll be as upset as I am.

Firstly, international students who are taking a fully online workload cannot remain in the US. They may be deported if they do not leave.

Why is this an issue? Well, it's not easy for some students to just "pack up and go home", especially in the middle of a pandemic.

There are LOADS of factors as to why this sucks. The US is a COVID hotspot, so many countries have limited immigration from the US. What if a student can't go home because of travel bans, but can't remain in the US because of this policy? What are they gonna do?

And ignoring this, just "going home" isn't gonna get someone the same quality of education. They need to consider time differences that can go beyond +12 hours. They may need to look into VPNs to get the same resources. Heck, loads of countries have shoddy internet.

On the other hand, there's this,
Most colleges now are "hybrid", meaning that with the exception of classes that cannot be held virtually (clinical practices, labs, studio art), lectures are now online.

However, this means that a good chunk of students are in this category.

If an international student is attending a "hybrid" college, they *NEED* to make sure that the student is "not taking an entirely online course load this semester". In other words, we are mandated to take at least 1 in person class.

And here's why that's an issue.

In March this year, many students, including myself, opted to travel back home. Here, we are secure with family members back in our home. We continued spring semester and completed our classes online. It was rough, but we did it, and we expected to do it for fall too.

Several classes can be taught in a lecture format with little difficulty. These types of lectures can be moved in person to virtual, and ultimately that is what happened for many classes.

The decision for them to remain virtual for fall was correct given the pandemic.

BUT in person classes are in person for a reason - they can't be taught virtually. However, the types of classes that necessitate this are specific to certain majors and degrees.

For example, my college doesn't offer *ANY* in person classes for the college of Arts and Letters

And for my specific major of Psychology, the only available classes are two graduate level clinicals. I literally can't take these classes even if I tried...

...but I have to take at least 1 in person class if I want to remain enrolled as an international student.

So, what are my options? To say that there are *no* online classes that I can take is wrong - but they won't progress my degree at all.

Will I really have to return to the United States, do 80% of my classes online, and attend 1 in person class that teaches me woodworking?

"You can just transfer to a fully online university and remain where you are, it's okay!"
This is *NOT* a solution. Not all programs transfer evenly. Not all credits will move over. Not all students can afford to transfer, and not all students can afford to lose time and money.

I've emailed my school's international student center and am awaiting a response. I hope this has clarified the situation for some of my friends who have heard about it but don't know how it affects international students.

Wishing you all the best.