
July 6, 2020— GEO is deeply concerned by today’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement regulations barring international students from remaining in the United States if they do not enroll in some in-person classes, barring them from enrolling in online-classes from their home country while in-person classes are being offered, and forcing them to leave the United States in the event all classes move online. The option to teach and study online this fall is necessary to keep graduate workers and all workers, students, and members of the campus community safe in the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, forcing international students out of the country and U-M right now directly jeopardizes their health, safety, and financial and personal stability. International students are valued members of the University community and GEO opposes these xenophobic policies.
GEO will be working with U-M’s Human Resources department to determine the implications for international graduate students at U-M and will fight to protect international grad students however possible. We will continue to keep our members posted as soon as we have concrete information. In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns, or would like to get involved, please feel free to reach out to GEO at umgeo@geo3550.org. Sharing your specific situation and concerns will help GEO advocate for international students as a whole, so we encourage you to email us if you are able. We also encourage you to reach out to U-M’s International Center at icenter@umich.edu.
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