During these extraordinary times of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we, students of the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) at the University of Texas at Dallas, several of us uninsured, are living in constant fear for our health, safety, and that of our friends and families in the U.S and abroad. The recent directive from ICE, issued on July 6th, in which international students on F-1 and M-1 visas with a fully online course load would not be allowed to stay in the country, took us by surprise. Not only did the directive come down with no prior notice, but also ICE failed to provide timely and adequate notification to the public and has failed to provide a reasonable basis for their decision.

We condemn this decision by ICE as cruel and reckless. It not only puts individual students at risk, but it also endangers entire communities.

We call on the University of Texas at Dallas and the School of ATEC to join us in solidarity, in opposition to the discriminatory decision of ICE.

These regulations put international students and their communities in several difficult positions:

1. This directive impacts our academic and career aspirations along with the communities we are part of in ATEC and across UTD, to which we greatly contribute. International students are students. We are colleagues, collaborators, and friends.

2. The directive denies us our power to decide what is best for our bodies. It no longer gives us the (safe) option to attend online courses and stay in the US and forces us to choose between our health (and that of others), our degree plans, and academic careers. We condemn ICE for its distinction and hierarchies between the values of foreign and national bodies.

It is cruel to make this change after international students were previously allowed to take online courses during the Spring and Summer 2020, as a result of a pandemic that is far from being fully understood or resolved. This politicizes a health crisis in which vulnerable populations are used to force institutions into risking the safety of their communities.

3. The decision to enroll in online or presential courses is not in our hands alone, we depend on faculty members willing to teach in a modality that includes F2F instruction. Faculty too are put into a precarious situation and forced to make difficult choices.

4. If forced to leave the country, international students may face discriminatory immigration repercussions, being placed in a highly uncertain and precarious scenario for re-entry.

We appreciate the work that the International Students Services Office, the University, and ATEC leadership and faculty have been doing in response to this crisis. We ask for support from the University of Texas at Dallas leadership and the school of ATEC, through the following concrete actions:

a) An official commitment and statement from the university and ATEC to oppose the ICE directive.

b) A concrete legal action against the ICE decision. We want to see UT Dallas join other Universities who are contesting the directive through lawsuits.

c) We want all students and faculty of UT Dallas to be able to freely choose which modality of classes they will engage in during Fall 2020, or as long as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.

d) We ask for assistance in securing alternative forms of funding for students, such as unrestricted fellowships as well as external internships that can count as credits earned towards degree completion. As non-STEM majors, we are already disadvantaged with limited OPT timescales, and are particularly vulnerable to rulings that directly affect the economic and career stability of international students. We call for increased academic service from faculty to actively encourage and provide pathways for accelerated career options for graduate and undergraduate students.

As an institution, ICE has been persecuting people for years, regardless of their documentation status. Their actions have affected and continue to affect millions of people. This directive is the continuation of long-standing persecutions and inequalities, that we do not want to see perpetuated through this new device.

We invite students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all people who are part of the University of Texas at Dallas community to sign this letter with us, joining in solidarity against the ICE targeting of international students under the already uncertain situation of a pandemic. Now is a time for unity, cooperation, and mutual care and not the time to be sedated or indifferent to such draconian measures that detrimentally affect all of us.

Signed,

For a list of signatories, see: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O8uwP5Ovt1DV45S2tFj4DsG_kGuS0sSO0n7FsJLe4eI/edit?usp=sharing