Skip to main content

Tech giants back suit against Trump rule that may deport students

Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and several other major tech companies oppose a new Trump administration rule that may send international students home if they don’t physically attend classes this fall.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), over rules that require in-person teaching for student visas. This means that international students who are enrolled in universities that are not holding in-person classes may be deported to their home countries.

Recommended Videos

The decision of the Trump administration to rescind the COVID-19 exemption to ICE’s in-person class requirements was described by Harvard and MIT as “arbitrary and capricious.” Nearly 60 universities have expressed their support for the lawsuit, according to Bloomberg, and tech companies are now joining the fight.

In a court brief, 13 tech companies and six associations filed their arguments against the rule, claiming that international students make meaningful contributions to the economy, both as residents and eventually as part of the workforce, and help maintain the excellence of colleges and universities.

In addition to Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, the other tech companies involved in the brief are Adobe Systems, Boston Consulting Group, Box, Dropbox, GitHub, LinkedIn, PayPal, SalesForce, Spotify, and Twitter. They are joined by the United States Chamber of Commerce, BSA, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, and TechNet.

The brief cited a study that claimed “more than half of the international students studying  in the United States — over 575,000 people — could have their education interrupted, and might be unable to complete their degrees.”

“Dropbox wouldn’t exist without immigrants. The students impacted by the Administration’s order make significant contributions to our society and the effect of the order will hurt U.S. competitiveness. We’ll keep fighting for immigration reform because it makes our country stronger and more diverse,” a spokesperson for Dropbox said in a statement to Digital Trends.

Microsoft President Brad Smith also tweeted his thoughts on the matter.

COVID-19 has thrown universities and students into a state of uncertainty. We need to give all students – including those who’ve come to the US from abroad to learn – flexibility during this pandemic. That’s why we signed today’s amicus brief.

— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 13, 2020

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
SpaceX shares photos of Starship ahead of sixth flight on Tuesday
SpaceX's Starship ahead of its sixth test flight.

SpaceX is just a couple of days away from sending its enormous Starship rocket on its sixth test flight from its facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

The mission had originally targeted Monday, November 18, for the launch of the vehicle -- comprising the main-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- but on Friday, SpaceX pushed the launch to Tuesday, November 19. Here's how to watch a livestream of the mission.

Read more
This may be your last chance to buy an RTX 40-series GPU at MSRP
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU.

Just last week, we reported on the end of production for the RTX 40-series. Now, new information from Board Channels (shared by Gazlog) suggests that the final shipments of Nvidia's best graphics cards are right around the corner. Some GPUs, like the RTX 4090, have already seen their final shipments. With the holidays on the horizon, now might be the last time to buy the RTX 40-series at a decent price before stock levels begin dwindling.

Despite being two years old, Nvidia's RTX 40-series has held up in terms of GPU prices. Only the RTX 4090 went up from its original recommended list price (MSRP), with the rest of the lineup  holding steady and mostly hovering around the launch price. Things might take a turn for the worse, though, if this report ends up being true.

Read more
Windows 11 multitasking is about to get even better
Windows 11 logo on a laptop.

Windows 11 already has great multitasking thanks to Snap Layouts. So, if you know how to split your screen in Windows 11 Snap Layouts, you're already aware of how good it is. And things will get even easier since the Windows 11 KB5046716 update is tinkering around with new Snap Layouts and hidden label ideas, as Phantomofearth noticed and confirmed by Windows Latest.

Windows Latest tested the features and can confirm that Microsoft is testing with different text options for the Snap Layouts, such as:

Read more