Washington AG Ferguson filing lawsuit over Trump rule revoking student visas

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Friday that he intends to file a lawsuit in federal court challenging a new regulation from the Trump administration regarding visas for international students.

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The measure was announced earlier this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and will soon revoke the visas of any international students attending colleges or universities holding entirely remote classes in the fall. International students attending schools implementing a hybrid model will also not be allowed to attend remotely from their home countries.

Homeland Security Director Ken Cuccinelli cited the new rule as part of a bid to “encourage schools to reopen.” This comes during a larger push from President Trump to “put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools” this fall.

The AG’s lawsuit asserts the measure is “unlawful and harmful to Washington students, universities, and community colleges.” He will seek a temporary restraining order against the rule to prevent its implementation scheduled for July 15.

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“The Trump Administration is undermining public safety decisions made at the local level and jeopardizing more than a billion dollars in tuition revenue and economic activity in order to pursue a political goal of keeping schools open in the fall,” Ferguson said in a news release. “President Trump and ICE need to let colleges and universities make their own decisions about the health, safety, and education of their students, not arbitrarily and illegally punish schools that want to provide classes remotely.”

The lawsuit will officially be filed later on Friday in the Western Washington U.S. District Court. This will mark the 65th lawsuit Ferguson has filed against the Trump administration, having won 29 and lost just one.

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