More than a dozen major American technology firms, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, joined a complaint against the new regulation by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday that prohibits foreign students from remaining in the U.S. unless they attend at least one course in person.
In pursuit of a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, Google and other firms, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other IT advocacy organizations, argued that the ICE Directive of 6 July would hinder their recruiting plans, make it difficult to bring in foreign students that firms, including amici, had intended to hire and interrupt the recruitment process in which the companies were hired. The July 6 Directive would prohibit significant numbers of foreign students from participating in the CPT and OPT programmes.
At the other hand, the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program provides up to one year of temporary jobs directly related to the primary study field of a foreign student, which can occur either before the graduation of the subject and/or after completion of their studies. Students in STEM fields, they said, can obtain a two-year extension of their OPT postgraduate programme.
The Negative Affects
The firms said that closing off more than half of all international students from participating in the American business recruitment pipeline would harm businesses and the economy as a whole, and disrupt reliance expectations based on prior policies that allow international students to stay in the US.
Asserting that foreign students make a significant contribution to the U.S. economy while living in the U.S., the legal brief indicated that the displacement of these students undermines the capacity of U.S. educational institutions to retain critical mass, which they need to preserve their quality of excellence, and educate American students to make up the talent pool available to them.
International students living in the US make a considerable contribution to the GDP of the country. Also, have an especially significant effect in cities and towns. It is where colleges and universities are located, according to the IT companies. There were more than 10 lakhs of these students attending higher education institutions. It is in the US during the academic year 2018-2019.
Foreign Students as Asset
It reduces the number of foreign students living in the United States. So, it is by half or more just for a single school year would harm the economy. It also amplifies the ongoing pandemic ‘s adverse economic impact. Each year foreign students add trillions of dollars to the US economy.
Observing that three jobs support due to their presence for every seven international students living in the US. The companies state in 2019 that international education “rank as the fifth-largest service export in the country.”
Small businesses — from coffee shops to bookstores — in communities around the country greatly benefit from international student presence, they said.
Google and other firms told the court about the consequence. They state if students stop studying in the US before the pandemic ends, many opt for studying in there country. They will move to study programs elsewhere in the world. And several of the US STEM programs will contract dramatically without foreign students and eventually cease to exist.
