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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
STATE OF NEW YORK,
Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; CHAD F. WOLF, in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; and MATTHEW ALBENCE, in his official capacity as Acting Director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Defendants.
20 Civ. 5349
DECLARATION OF STEVEN C. WU
Steven C. Wu, pursuant to penalty of perjury under 28 U.S.C. § 1746, does hereby state
the following:
I am an attorney in the Office of the New York State Attorney General and counsel to
Plaintiff in this action. I submit this Declaration in support of Plaintiff’s motion for a temporary
restraining order, preliminary injunction, or stay pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 705.
Attached to this Declaration are true and correct copies of the following exhibits:
1. Declaration of Tod A. Laursen, Senior Vice Chancellor and Provost of the State
University of New York.
2. Declaration of Ruth N. Kamona, University Director for International Student and
Scholar Services in the City University of New York’s Central Office of Academic Affairs.
3. Declaration of Rohit Khemlani.
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DATED: July 13, 2020
By: /s/ Steven C. Wu . Steven C. Wu Deputy Solicitor General Office of the New York Attorney General 28 Liberty Street New York, NY 10005 Phone: (212) 416-6312 [email protected] Attorney for the State of New York
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
STATE OF NEW YORK, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; CHAD F. WOLF, in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; and MATTHEW ALBENCE, in his official capacity as Acting Director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
DECLARATION OF TOD A. LAURSEN
I, Tod A. Laursen, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, hereby declare that the following is true and
correct:
1. I submit this Declaration in support of the State of New York’s litigation
challenging the policies announced on July 6, 2020 by “Broadcast Message” and to be published
as a Temporary Final Rule to amend requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program
(the “Directive”). I have compiled the information in the statements set forth below either
through personal knowledge, through The State University of New York (“SUNY”) personnel
who have assisted me in gathering this information from our institution, or on the basis of
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documents I have reviewed. I have also familiarized myself with the Directive in order to
understand its immediate impact upon SUNY.
2. I am Senior Vice Chancellor and Provost of the State University of New York,
and as such, serve as the chief academic officer for SUNY. I have held this position since
September of 2018. I joined SUNY after eight years of service as the Founding President of
Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, the foremost university in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to
becoming President of Khalifa University, I was a faculty member and administrator at Duke
University (NC, USA), between the years of 1992 and 2010, where my service included terms as
Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from 2008–2010, and
Senior Associate Dean for Education in the Pratt School of Engineering from 20032008. In the
latter capacity, I had oversight responsibility for all undergraduate and graduate engineering
programs at Duke. My training is as a mechanical engineer, and I hold a Bachelor of Science in
this subject from Oregon State University, as well as a Masters of Science and PhD from
Stanford University. In addition to my academic career, I have worked for two national
laboratories (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories) as an
engineer and a consultant. I am a Fellow of three professional societies, and have authored two
books and over one hundred refereed journal articles, proceedings, and abstracts over the course
of my career.
3. In my role at SUNY, I serve as a key member of the Chancellor’s Executive
Leadership Team, as well as her Cabinet. The Provost is responsible for coordination of the
SUNY System’s academic enterprise in close collaboration with its college and university
campuses; responsibilities of my office include academic program review, data collection,
student mobility and international programs, system-wide enrollment management and
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recruitment, student success initiatives, student and campus life, library services, the SUNY
Press, and the implementation of academic technology solutions across the System.
4. As a member of SUNY’s leadership team, I have been integrally involved in
leadership of the System’s COVID-19 response and served as co-chair of our system level
response task force. This task force has to date had two distinct phases: the response phase,
commencing in late February 2020 and focusing on safe repatriation of SUNY students studying
abroad, the coordination and leadership of the System’s domestic response to COVID-19, and
the pivot to remote education as announced by the NYS Governor on March 11, 2020; and the
re-opening phase, dating to early April, 2020, where our focus shifted throughout the month to
issues associated with the safe re-introduction of some face-to-face instruction on our campuses
during the fall, should health and safety circumstances permit. As task force co-chair during
both phases, I was a regular participant and facilitator of scheduled Presidents’ calls giving status
updates on the response and reopening (daily through much of the crisis); daily check-ins with
the System task force; leadership of the academic continuity task force (which coordinated plans
for remote, face-to-face, and hybrid instruction, coupled with contingency and safety planning,
across the system); regular sector calls with campus provosts to hear their needs and organize
appropriate support mechanisms across the System level; regular interaction with our Academic
Affairs team and the New York State Education Department, to be sure that regulatory
flexibilities were in place and coordinated with campus plans, and many others. I served as the
lead SUNY representative on a task force convened by the Commission on Independent Colleges
and Universities in New York; and chaired its Infrastructure Subcommittee. This task force’s
work culminated in the report Creating Safe and Resilient Campuses: Suggestions for Reopening
and Reimagining Colleges and Universities in New York, which was issued on May 18, 2020.
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Background on SUNY
5. SUNY is the nation’s largest comprehensive system of higher education.
SUNY’s 64 campuses include medical schools, hospitals, research and doctoral granting
institutions, four-year comprehensive colleges, colleges of technology, community colleges, and
statutory campuses located at Cornell University and Alfred University.
6. SUNY was founded in 1948, in large part to provide educational opportunities to
individuals that other educational institutions would not admit. Alongside the City University of
New York, SUNY provides a public option to hundreds of thousands of people annually. As of
fall 2019, more than 415,000 students were enrolled in a degree program at a SUNY campus. In
total, SUNY served 1.3 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing
education, and community outreach programs in the 2018–19 academic year. One in three New
Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alumnus.
7. SUNY is funded through a combination of revenues from student tuition and fees
and state funding. SUNY is budgeted to receive more than $4 billion in New York State funding
for fiscal year 2021.
8. SUNY is the largest employer in New York State, employing over 90,000 people.
9. SUNY’s Research Foundation (“RF”) is the largest comprehensive university-
connected research foundation in the country. The RF administers over $1 billion in sponsored
research programs focused on life-changing research and economic development activities across
a wide range of disciplines including medicine, engineering, physical sciences, energy, computer
science, and social sciences.
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SUNY’s International Students
10. SUNY had 18,661 enrolled students with F-1 or M-1 visas (the “International
Students”) in the 2019–2020 academic year.
11. International Students comprise approximately 5% of total SUNY enrollment.
The International Students come from 177 countries and contribute $656 million in operating
revenue to SUNY. The tuition paid by International Students alone constitutes about 18% of
SUNY’s tuition-based revenue (40% for doctoral granting campuses). This means that each
International Student contributes more than three times as much revenue to support SUNY’s
operations as the average student. This added revenue undergirds the funding of higher
education for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
12. At the University at Buffalo (“UB”) campus, which is in the top tier of U.S.
universities with the most international students in the nation, 28% of all graduate students are
International Students whose enrollment supports many important STEM programs that would
otherwise collapse. The International Students’ enrollment increases educational opportunities
for domestic students by making it possible to sustain these critical STEM graduate programs.
13. The best available data reveals that International Students contribute a total of
$5.3 billion to the New York State economy and generate approximately 60,000 jobs. Much of
this impact is felt in communities where a SUNY campus is the cornerstone of the local
economy.
14. Approximately 8,000 of SUNY’s currently enrolled International Students are
currently in the United States. Approximately 6,400 of currently enrolled International Students
will be returning to the United States from overseas for the start of classes. In addition, there are
approximately 4,200 first time students who were planning to enroll in fall 2020.
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15. The new Directive will put in grave jeopardy both the continued enrollment and
the new enrollment of International Students, particularly those currently outside of the United
States. SUNY’s experts estimate that somewhere between 20%–50% of the total anticipated
International Student population will have difficulty, decline, or be unable to enroll at SUNY
campuses as a result of the Directive (this figure includes students who are denied visas and re-
entry).
The Directive
16. The Directive’s impact at SUNY will be felt amid the backdrop of an
unprecedented national emergency. The COVID-19 crisis has upended our campuses, caused
millions of dollars of financial damage to the University and has forced nearly all employees
who are tasked with international student and financial aid duties to work remotely. New York
has been hit harder than any other state to date, with tens of thousands of deaths and long-term
injury and illness for hundreds of thousands more. SUNY itself has been directly affected by the
pandemic, with over a thousand students, staff, and faculty from 46 campuses testing positive for
COVID-19. We have so far lost at least ten students and employees to COVID-19.
17. The new Directive requires that all International Students be enrolled in at least
one in-person course in fall 2020 in order to maintain F-1 visa status. The Directive forces
SUNY to choose between adding more in-person course offerings or risking the loss of
thousands of International Students, along with all that they contribute to our campuses,
communities, and economy.
18. The Directive’s central demand—that schools provide more in-person offerings—
is extremely difficult or impossible for SUNY to accomplish, for several reasons. First, state
directives (based upon Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance) require SUNY to operate
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in-person courses in accordance with specified social distancing requirements, including having
at least six feet of space (a measure that could increase) between students in classroom
environments. Second, public health guidelines necessitate SUNY drastically limiting residence
hall room occupancy in order to create safe living environments. In real terms, SUNY’s Re-
opening Plans include residential hall reductions of around 50% to meet the safety standards.
Finally, local health care infrastructure in many of the areas where SUNY campuses are located
are ill equipped to cope with an increase in demand for already-stressed resources. The
limitations of SUNY’s educational, residential, and health care infrastructure, as well as the
limitations of our partner communities, makes it impractical and imprudent for SUNY to
increase in-person course options without demonstrable academic or curricular need.
19. Because the limitations of SUNY’s physical infrastructure make it extremely
difficult for SUNY to significantly increase in-person course options while complying with
public-health mandates, compliance with the Directive would require SUNY to rearrange its
system of priorities for determining which classes and students receive in-person instruction,
putting a severe burden on an already stressed system. Rather than decisions about mode of
instructional delivery being dictated by public health and safety and academic necessities, visa
status would need to be introduced as a priority decision-making criterion. Such a mandate
would affect the entire student population and constitute a disservice to all SUNY students.
20. Even if SUNY were able to add more in-person offerings while complying with
public health directives, students who are already enrolled in fall 2020 courses would have
significant difficulty changing their course enrollments under the timeframe imposed by this last-
minute Directive.
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21. Finally, depending upon the nature of the spread of COVID-19 in New York and
other states, SUNY may be required to switch to remote instruction again during the semester
and at a moment’s notice as it did in spring 2020. This would cause thousands of International
Students to suddenly lose their visa status mid-semester and force them to exit the U.S. by
traveling exactly when doing so presents the greatest risk. SUNY needs to be able to make any
such decisions based on public health conditions alone, free of apprehension about the
downstream effects those decisions might have on this important segment of our student
population.
Economic Harm to SUNY
22. The Directive will cause a significant number of International Students to
withdraw from SUNY. This will result in lost tuition, housing, and other revenue for SUNY.
SUNY estimates that withdrawals by International Students as a result of the Directive will result
in lost tuition and revenues of $131–$328 million.
23. In addition, SUNY and the RF employ more than 3,800 International Students as
research assistants, teaching assistants, and in other capacities.
24. The Directive may cause a significant number of International Students to be
forced to leave their positions in student research on campus. SUNY will be required to devote
additional resources to hiring new technical staff, and may not be able to find qualified student
replacements. As a result, SUNY could experience delays in its research deliverables on the
approximately 47,000 active research projects.
25. International Students fill approximately half of all graduate student research
positions on externally sponsored research projects, contributing significantly to SUNY’s $1
billion research enterprise. This includes research related to COVID-19 and other infectious
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diseases, cancer diagnosis and therapies, nanotechnology, informatics and data analytics,
advanced materials, manufacturing, alternative energy and energy storage, early diagnosis of
Alzheimer’s disease, artificial intelligence, and other critically important topics.
26. The withdrawal of International Students due to the Directive may also imperil
potentially life-changing research projects. For example, a National Science Foundation project
being conducted at the University at Buffalo assesses the American public’s perception of the
COVID-19 outbreak, its emotional responses to the outbreak, and its support of public health
policies including international cooperation. The proposed research advances risk
communication research, as well as enhances our understanding of strategic messaging designed
to benefit public health, prosperity and welfare. This project, in which an International Student
has been engaged, is particularly significant in light of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases
associated with public gatherings in the United States.
27. In addition, the Directive will likely cause severe reputational damage to SUNY,
making it more difficult for SUNY to recruit International Students in future years. SUNY is
currently recognized throughout the globe for offering a wealth of top-tier academic and research
opportunities to International Students. The uncertainty and chaos caused by the Directive will
tarnish SUNY’s global reputation and will lead to a long-term loss of tuition and other revenues
for SUNY, as well as continuing harm to SUNY’s research enterprise and a concomitant
diminishment of the quality of its academic environment. Reputational harm to SUNY will also
damage the University’s ability to implement its strategic enrollment management plan to
increase international enrollments from 5% to 15% of SUNY’s total enrollment by 2030.
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28. International Students who are unable to enroll in an in-person or hybrid course in
fall 2020 and who cannot relocate to their home country to attend SUNY remotely will be forced
to withdraw from SUNY.
29. As a result of the Directive, some International Students will transfer to schools in
their home country or in other countries. Still others will drop out of school altogether.
30. The Directive has sown confusion and uncertainty among International Students.
International Students who are already in the U.S. are uncertain as to whether they will be able to
enroll in an in-person course for the fall 2020 semesters. International Students who remain
outside of the U.S. are uncertain about whether they will be permitted to re-enter the U.S. This
uncertainty and confusion will itself lead some International Students to withdraw from SUNY.
31. Accordingly, the Directive will likely result in thousands of International Students
disenrolling from SUNY.
32. As a result, SUNY will risk losing an estimated $131–328 million in lost tuition
and fee revenue.
33. As noted, International Students pay a much higher-than average proportion of
tuition, enabling SUNY to provide significant financial aid to disadvantaged domestic students.
The loss of International Students’ tuition will therefore have an outsized impact on SUNY’s
finances and the prospects for thousands of domestic students to afford higher education.
34. In addition to loss of tuition, SUNY will also lose revenues from housing and
other sources as a result of the Directive. Nearly 6,100 International Students live in SUNY
dormitories and use SUNY dining halls. The loss of these students from dormitories and off-
campus housing will lead to losses in housing revenue, dining hall revenue, and revenue from
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other on-campus services such as student health centers and have a direct impact on the
communities where these students are essential components of their local economies.
Administrative Burden on SUNY
35. Prior to the issuance of the Directive, each of SUNY’s 64 campuses had already
developed tailored reopening plans for fall 2020 (the “Reopening Plans”). The Reopening Plans
were designed to comply with state-level directives for operation in light of current public health
considerations related to the COVID-19 crisis, including state requirements concerning social
distancing during in-person course meetings. These requirements were, in turn, at least partially
based on federal guidance from the White House, CDC, and other sources.
36. SUNY campuses also relied on the ICE guidance issued in March 2020 in
developing the Reopening Plans.
37. The Reopening Plans also involved changes to SUNY’s academic calendar. In
anticipation that the COVID-19 pandemic might worsen in fall 2020, the Reopening Plans
provided for, in some cases, earlier start dates, fewer or no scheduled breaks, expanded hours
and days when courses are offered, and in some cases termination of all in-person course
meetings after the Thanksgiving holiday.
38. As a result of the Directive, SUNY will have to devote approximately 10,365 staff
hours (over a matter of weeks) to counseling International Students about in-person or hybrid
course offerings that are offered and that will enable students to continue to make normal
progress in their degree programs, thus maintaining their visa status. The processing of
International Students’ course changes so close to the beginning of the fall 2020 semester has the
potential to create instability as the numbers of students in various courses and sections fluctuate
unpredictably.
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39. SUNY will also have to devote additional unbudgeted resources to revisiting its
Reopening Plans to determine whether there are any potential means for increasing in-person or
hybrid course offerings. To the extent that campuses find that they are able to modify the
Reopening Plans to offer additional in-person or hybrid offerings, SUNY will be required to
devote additional resources to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread associated with in-person
courses. For example, SUNY would have to allocate funds for increased frequency of classroom
cleanings and for purchasing personal protective equipment to distribute to students and faculty.
40. The Directive also requires schools that are offering hybrid programs to certify to
Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) through the Form I-20 that each enrolled
International Student’s program is not entirely online; that the student is not taking an entirely
online course load for the Fall 2020 semester; and that the student is taking the minimum number
of online courses required to make normal progress in their degree program.
41. SUNY anticipates that it will have to devote over 9,000 of hours of additional
staff time completing recertification of International Students pursuant to the Directive—
corresponding to $410,000 in salary-related expenses alone. Furthermore, this burden is ill-
timed and requires the effort of specialized International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS)
staff who are limited in number on all SUNY campuses. The work plans of these staff members
are already filled for the remaining weeks of the summer term with activities necessary to ensure
the successful arrival and continuation of International Students during the summer and fall
terms. The University does not have a pool of additional staff, as these positions are highly
trained, and other staff are consumed with current re-opening duties. Moreover, the Student and
Exchange Visitor Program normally takes several months to authorize these highly specialized
staff work within the SEVIS system.
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42. For example, at Stony Brook University it would take the staff of nine ISSS
specialists approximately 4 weeks to re-issue an estimated 2,800 I-20s. This estimate is based on
the assumption that the staff are being exclusively dedicated to the re-issuance task to the
exclusion of all other work—a particularly unrealistic assumption since the same staff must take
on the additional burden of advising students about this new and yet-to-be-finalized Directive.
43. In addition, SUNY anticipates that changes in the severity of the COVID-19 crisis
may necessitate further changes in course operation during the upcoming academic year. As a
result, SUNY may need to make changes to its course operations that will require SUNY to
repeat the re-certification process for each International Student multiple times as conditions
change.
Impact on SUNY’s Ability to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
44. The Directive comes at a particularly difficult time for SUNY, given the ongoing
hardship faced as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
45. All SUNY campuses closed to in-person instruction in March 2020 pursuant to state
directives aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19. SUNY faculty and staff worked hard to
quickly move courses online.
46. In addition to these educational challenges, SUNY operates three academic medical
centers that are seeing patients that do and do not present with COVID-19. During the pandemic,
SUNY medical centers have mobilized to expand ICU capacity, build negative pressure rooms,
obtain ventilators and protective equipment, and, tragically, increase morgue and refrigerated
storage for bodies.
47. The Directive will require SUNY administrators to divert critical resources from our
COVID-19 response efforts.
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Harmful Impact on Students
48. International Students who had planned to initiate or continue their studies at
SUNY but are denied visas as a result of this Directive will experience disruptions in their
education and may never be able to enroll at SUNY. The Directive is new and untested, thus it is
unknown how border patrol officers will apply the policies to returning F-1 students from
schools employing a hybrid model of instruction. Based on prior experiences with unplanned
changes to re-entry rules, it is likely that there will be confusion about this population and thus
problems with re-entry will occur, especially for students returning to schools employing a
hybrid model of instruction. This will be the situation for approximately 6,398 returning
students currently outside of the U.S., roughly one third of the International Student population.
The uncertainty related to this issue may discourage some International Students from enrolling
or re-enrolling in SUNY.
49. International Students who are involved in SUNY’s research enterprise will lose
the opportunity to contribute to critical research and to advance their careers through their
participation in such research.
50. International Students could be forced to depart the country in haste as a result of
changes in instructional delivery mode mid-semester. Those students would be putting their
health at risk, being exposed to unsafe travel conditions at a time when the rate of community
transmission of COVID-19 is high enough to warrant the change in instructional delivery (not to
mention the risk of a coinciding pandemic-related surge in their home country). Some students,
such as those from countries disrupted by internal strife, civil war, and political insecurity, may
even face possibility of serious bodily harm or even death due to volatile in-country conditions.
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51. International Students forced to depart as a result of the Directive will incur
significant negative financial consequences, including forfeiting expenditures made on housing
and paying elevated travel costs to return to their home country on short notice and during a
period of high demand and flight scarcity. Others will be unable to return to their home
countries due to travel disruptions and/or exorbitant costs and be forced to remain in the U.S.
even as they are prohibited from remaining enrolled and progressing in their degree programs.
Such students will also lose the ability to pursue Optional Practical Training upon graduation, an
extension of their academic training program that often leads to long-term work visas for
employment in the U.S.
52. A significant number of returning students have left the U.S. and are unable to
arrive for fall semester due to travel disruptions and/or to ongoing COVID-related travel bans.
Many of these students are able to defer their enrollment and continue their F-1 eligibility for
future study. The Directive will cause some of them to lose their F-1 status. In order to resume
their studies here they will be required to reapply for F-1 visas in future, risking rejection,
jeopardizing their ability to continue their educational progress, costing them an additional
SEVIS fee (currently $350) and necessitating another trip to their nearest U.S. Consulate.
53. Some International Students who cannot comply with the Directive’s in-person
instruction requirement will have to return to their home country. If such students attempt to
continue enrollment in SUNY remotely, they will likely attend classes in different time zones.
This could result in situations where students are scheduled to attend remote courses in the
middle of the night. These students will also need to secure reliable technology. Many students
will likely disenroll as a result of these challenges.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
STATE OF NEW YORK,
Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; CHAD F. WOLF, in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; and MATTHEW ALBEN CE, in his official capacity as Acting Director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
DECLARATION OF RUTH N. KAMONA
I, Ruth N. Kamona, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, hereby declare that the following is
true and correct:
1. I submit this Declaration in support of the State ofNew York's litigation
challenging the policies announced on July 6, 2020 by "Broadcast Message" and to be published
as a Temporary Final Rule to amend requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program
(the "Directive"). I have compiled the information in the statements set forth below either
through personal knowledge, through the City University of New York ("CUNY") personnel
who have assisted me in gathering this information from our institution, or on the basis of
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 1 of 12
documents I have reviewed. I have also familiarized myself with the Directive in order to
understand its immediate impact upon CUNY.
2. I am currently employed as the University Director for International Student
and Scholar Services in the CUNY Central Office of Academic Affairs, a position I have held for
more than 10 years. In this capacity, I serve as the Principle Designated School Official and
CUNY's point person with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Custom
Enforcement. I work in tandem with the University community to ensure compliance with the
federal regulatory mandates pertinent to international students and exchange visitors, and to
provide support for the delivery of critical student services that directly enhance international
students' and scholars' academic success. I am also charged with the oversight and maintenance
of the University's Immigration Certificate that allows all CUNY colleges to continue admitting
and enrolling international students in F-1 status and exchange visitors in J-1 status for some of
the colleges and the CUNY Central Office. I am a product of CUNY, who came to the United
States as an international student in F-1 immigration status. I obtained both my bachelor and
master's degree in Public Administration from CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
and another master's degree in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College.
Background on CUNY
3. CUNY is the nation's largest urban university, with 25 campuses, including
senior and community colleges and graduate institutions including the CUNY Graduate School
and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and the
CUNY School of Medicine at City College. CUNY has approximately 1,600 different academic
programs ranging from certificate programs to Ph.D. and professional programs. The University
has an enrollment of approximately 253,000 full and part-time undergraduate and graduate
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students and has approximately 200,000 students enrolled in adult and continuing education
programs. It employs approximately 45,000 full�time and part-time employees.
4. Since the founding of what is now City College (the oldest college in the CUNY
system) in 1847, CUNY has had a special mission to provide an affordable and excellent
education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Section 6201 (2) of the New York State
Education Law recognizes this mission and sets forth the legislature's intent that "the University
will continue to maintain and expand its commitment to academic excellence and to the
provision of equal access and opportunity for students, faculty and staff from all ethnic and racial
groups and from both sexes" as well as its understanding that "[t]he City University is of vital
importance as a vehicle for the upward mobility of the disadvantaged in the City of New York."
Approximately 42 percent of CUNY's students are in the first generation of their families to
attend college.
5. CUNY is a premier research institution. CUNY's Research Foundation ("RF")
manages a $512 million research program focused on life-changing research across a wide range
of disciplines including medicine, engineering, physical sciences, energy, computer science, and
social sciences, and employs over 13,000 part-time and full-time researchers.
CUNY's International Students
6. In fall 20219, CUNY had approximately 6,100 enrolled degree-seeking students
in F-1 immigration status on F-1 student visas (the "International Students").
7. CUNY's International Students come from over 100 countries and contribute
approximately $70 million in tuition and other fees to CUNY. CUNY's International Students
also contribute millions to the economy of New York City and generate thousands of jobs.
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8. The new Directive will put in grave jeopardy both the continued enrollment and
the new enrollment of International Students, particularly those currently outside of the United
States. Hundreds of International Students will fail to enroll or will disenroll from CUNY as a
result of the Directive.
The Directive
9. The Directive's impact at CUNY will be felt amid the backdrop of an
unprecedented national emergency. The COVID-19 crisis has significantly impacted our
campuses, caused millions of dollars of financial costs to CUNY and has forced nearly all
employees who are tasked with international student and financial aid duties to work remotely.
New York has been hit harder than any other state to date, with tens of thousands of deaths and
long-term injury and illness for hundreds of thousands more. CUNY itself has been directly
affected by the pandemic. We have so far lost 46 members of the CUNY community to COVID-
19.
10. The Directive requires that all International Students must be enrolled in at least
one in-person course in fall 2020 in order to be eligible for a student visa.
11. The Directive forces CUNY to choose between adding more in-person course
offerings or risking the loss of thousands of International Students, along with all that they
contribute to our campuses, communities, and economy. However, the Directive's central
demand - that schools provide more in-course offerings - is extremely difficult or impossible for
CUNY to accomplish while maintaining compliance with state and federal public health
directives. For example, state directives (based upon Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
guidance for reopening) require CUNY to operate in-person courses in accordance with specified
social distancing guidance, including having at least six feet of space between students in
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classroom environments. The limitations of CUNY's physical infrastructure makes it
impractical and imprudent for CUNY to increase in-person course options.
12. Because the limitations of CUNY's physical infrastructure make it extremely
difficult for CUNY to significantly increase in-person course options while complying with
public-health mandates, compliance with the Directive would require CUNY to rearrange its
system of priorities for determining which classes and students receive in-person instruction,
putting a severe burden on an already stressed system. Rather than decisions about mode of
instructional delivery being dictated by public health and safety and academic necessities, visa
status would need to be introduced as a priority decision-making criterion. Such a mandate
would affect the entire student population and constitute a disservice to all CUNY students.
13. Even if CUNY were able to add more in-person offerings while complying with
public health directives, students who are already enrolled in fall 2020 courses would have
significant difficulty changing their course enrollments under the timeframe imposed by this last
minute Directive.
14. Finally, depending upon the nature of the spread ofCOVID-19 in New York and
other states, CUNY may be required to switch to fully remote instruction again during the
semester and at a moment's notice as it did in spring 2020. This would cause thousands of
International Students to suddenly lose their visa status mid-semester pursuant to the Directive.
Students would be forced to exit the U.S. by traveling exactly when doing so presents the
greatest risk. CUNY needs to be able to make any such decisions based on public health
conditions alone, free of apprehension about the downstream effects those decisions might have
on this important segment of our student population.
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Economic Harm to CUNY
15. CUNY faces incredible challenges with adding more in-person course offerings
because of unique physical and infrastructure limitations of operating campuses in New York
City. As a result of the Directive, a significant number oflnternational Students will withdraw
from CUNY. This will result in lost tuition and other revenue for CUNY. CUNY estimates that
withdrawals by International Students as a result of the Directive will result in as much as $70
million in lost tuition and revenues.
16. In addition, CUNY employs well over a thousand International Students as
research assistants, teaching assistants, and in other capacities.
17. As a result of the Directive, a significant number of International Students may
withdraw from CUNY and leave their positions of employment with CUNY. CUNY will be
required to devote additional resources to hiring new employees, and may not be able to find
qualified replacements.
18. Over one third of the entering class at CUNY Graduate Center is comprised of
International Students. Over 700 International Students are enrolled in the Graduate Center. All
of those International Students are involved in research, including biomedical research and other
critically important topics. The loss of these research efforts due to the Directive will have a
devastating impact on CUNY, and on public health in New York City and across the state.
19. In addition, the Directive will likely cause severe reputational damage to CUNY,
making it more difficult for CUNY to recruit International Students in future years. CUNY is
currently recognized throughout the globe for offering a wealth of top-tier academic and research
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 6 of 12
opportunities to International Students. The uncertainty and chaos caused by the Directive will
tarnish CUNY's global reputation and will lead to a long-term loss of tuition and other revenues
for CUNY, as well as continuing harm to CUNY's research enterprise and a concomitant
diminishment of the quality of its academic environment.
20. As a result of the Directive, International Students who are unable to enroll in an
in-person or hybrid course in fall 2020 will be forced to withdraw from CUNY. Some
International Students will transfer to schools in their home country or in other countries. Still
others will drop out of school altogether.
21. The Directive has sown confusion and uncertainty among International Students.
International Students who are already in the U.S. are uncertain as to whether they will be able to
enroll in an in-person course for the fall 2020 semesters. International Students who remain
outside of the U.S. are uncertain about whether they will be permitted to re-enter the U.S. This
uncertainty and confusion will itself lead some International Students to withdraw from CUNY.
22. Accordingly, the Directive will likely result in hundreds, if not thousands, of
International Students disenrolling from CUNY.
23. The loss of tuition resulting from this withdrawal would be particularly acute
because International Students usually pay full tuition, which enables CUNY to provide
significant financial aid to disadvantaged students. The loss oflnternational Students' tuition
will therefore have an outsized impact on CUNY's finances and the prospects for thousands of
domestic students to afford higher education.
Administrative Burden on CUNY
24. Prior to the issuance of the Directive, CUNY was in the process of developing
reopening plans for fall 2020 (the "Reopening Plans"). The Reopening Plans are designed to
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 7 of 12
comply with state'-level directives for operation in light of current public health considerations
related to the COVID-19 crisis. These state-level directives were, in tum, at least partially based
on federal guidance from the White House, CDC, and other sources. CUNY based its Reopening
Plans on considerations including the physical limitations of its classroom buildings to permit
appropriate social distancing during in-person course meetings.
25. CUNY also relied on the ICE guidance issued in March 2020 in developing the
Reopening Plans.
26. CUNY's campuses have been closed to in-person student instruction since mid-
March, and summer classes are also being held through distance learning. In light of this
situation, it has been an extreme challenge for CUNY to engage in its core educational functions
since March 2020, as well as for administrators and staff to perform both regular work and the
additional functions necessary to address the operational and :financial issues caused by the
COVID pandemic.
27. CUNY' s Reopening Plans seek to optimize the balance of in-person, hybrid and
fully online courses with considerations of safety and academic necessities. As part of this
effort, the University seeks to minimize the percentage of courses requiring on-site instruction as
the best way to guard against virus outbreaks and prepare for possible resurgences of the virus in
the communities served by our campuses ..
28. As a result of the Directive, CUNY will have to devote thousands of additional
hours to academic counseling and immigration advising for International Students about the need
to enroll in an in-person or hybrid course to maintain their F-1 immigration status. CUNY will
also have to devote resources to counseling International Students about in-person or hybrid
course offerings that are offered and that will enable students to continue to make normal
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 8 of 12
progress in their degree program, thus maintaining their status. The processing of International
Students' course changes so close to the beginning of the fall 2020 semester has the potential to
create instability as the numbers of students in various courses and sections fluctuate
unpredictably.
29. CUNY will also have to devote additional unbudgeted resources to revisiting its
Reopening Plans to determine whether there are any potential means for increasing in-person or
hybrid course offerings. To the extent that campuses find that they are able to modify the
Reopening Plans to offer additional in-person or hybrid offerings, CUNY will be required to
devote additional resources to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread associated with in-person
courses. For example, CUNY would have to allocate funds for increased frequency of classroom
cleanings and for purchasing masks to distribute to students and faculty.
30. The Directive also requires schools that are offering hybrid programs to certify to
Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) through the Form 1-20 (Certificate of Eligibility
for Nonimmigrant Student Status) that each enrolled International Student's program is not
entirely online, that the student is not taking an entirely online course load for the Fall 2020
semester, and that the student is taking the minimum number of online courses required to make
normal progress in their degree program.
31. CUNY anticipates that it will have to devote thousands of hours of additional staff
time completing recertification of International Students pursuant to the Directive. Furthermore,
this burden is ill-timed and requires the effort of specialized staff who are limited in number on
all CUNY campuses. The work plans of these staff members are already filled for the remaining
weeks of the summer term with activities necessary to ensure the successful arrival and
continuation of International Students during the summer and fall terms. The University does
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 9 of 12
not have a pool of additional staff, as these positions are highly trained, and other staff are
consumed with current re-opening duties. Moreover, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program
normally takes several months to authorize these highly specialized staff work within SEVIS.
32. In addition, CUNY anticipates that changes in the severity of the COVID-19
crisis may necessitate further changes in course operation during upcoming academic year. As a
result, CUNY may need to repeat the re-certification process multiple times as conditions
change.
Impact on CUNY's Ability to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
33. The Directive comes at a particularly difficult time for CUNY, given the ongoing
hardship faced as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
34. As noted above, all CUNY campuses closed to in-person instruction in March 2020
pursuant to state directives aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19. With our students
displaced, our faculty and staff worked hard to quickly move courses online and to respond to the
administrative and financial repercussions of the crisis.
35. The Directive will require CUNY administrators to divert critical resources from our
COVID-19 response efforts.
Harmful Impact on Students
36. International Students who had planned to initiate or continue their studies at
CUNY but are denied visas as a result of this Directive will experience disruptions in their
education and may never be able to enroll at CUNY. Students who are returning to the U.S. may
experience problems re-entering the U.S. The uncertainty related to this issue may discourage
some International Students from enrolling or re-enrolling in CUNY.
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37. In addition, as noted above, International Students who are unable to enroll in an
in-person or hybrid class will be forced to withdraw from CUNY. The Directive subjects all
such students to loss of their F-1 immigration status and, for students already in the United
States, the risk of deportation. Accordingly, the Directive may result in hundreds, if not
thousands, oflnternational Students disenrolling from CUNY.
38. International Students who are involved in CUNY's research enterprise will lose
the opportunity to contribute to critical research and to advance their careers through their
participation in such research.
39. International Students could be forced to depart the country in haste as a result of
change in instructional delivery mode mid-semester. Those students would be putting their
health at risk, being exposed to unsafe travel conditions at a time when the rate of community
transmission of COVID-19 is high enough to warrant the change in instructional delivery (not to
mention the risk of a coinciding pandemic-related surge in their home country). Some students,
such as those from countries disrupted by internal strife, civil war, and political insecurity, may
even face possibility of serious bodily harm or even death due to volatile in-country conditions.
International Students forced to depart as a result of the Directive will incur significant financial
consequences, including losing their ability to obtain necessary work visas to permit them to
work under the Optional Practical Training during or after completion of their academic
trajectory. Such students who are already in the U.S. will also have to pay travel costs to return
to their home country and to find short-term housing in their home country.
40. A significant number of returning students have left the U.S. and are unable to
arrive for fall semester due to travel disruptions and/or to ongoing COVID-related travel bans.
Many of these students are able to defer their enrollment and continue their F-1 eligibility for
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 11 of 12
future study. The Directive will cause some of them to lose their F-1 status. In order to resume
their studies here, they will be required to reapply for F-1 visas in the future, risking rejection,
jeopardizing their ability to continue their educational progress, costing them an additional
SEVIS fee (currently $350) and necessitating another trip to their nearest U.S. Consulate.
41. International Students are confused and uncertain about the impact of the
Directive on their ability to continue their programs at CUNY. Many have reached out to CUNY
administrators for help and have described the severe hardships they will face if they are not able
to maintain their immigration status as a result of the Directive.
42. As set forth above, CUNY will lose many millions of dollars as a result of the
Directive due to lost tuition and revenue. In addition, the Directive will harm CUNY' s research
enterprise and impose significant administrative burdens on CUNY. Finally, CUNY will suffer
an incalculable loss of educational opportunities and a loss of diversity within its student
population as a result of the Directive.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States that,
to the best of my knowledge, the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 12th day of July, 2020
Ruth N. Kamona University Director International Student & Scholar Services The City University of New York
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-2 Filed 07/13/20 Page 12 of 12
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
STATE OF NEW YORK,
Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; CHAD F. WOLF, in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; and MATTHEW ALBENCE, in his official capacity as Acting Director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
DECLARATION OF ROHIT KHEMLANI
I, Rohit Khemlani, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, hereby declare that the following is true and
correct:
1. I submit this Declaration in support of the State of New York’s litigation
challenging the policies announced by United States Immigration and Customs and Enforcement
(“ICE”) on July 6, 2020 by “Broadcast Message” and to be published as a Temporary Final Rule
to amend requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (the “Directive”). I have
personal knowledge of all the information set forth below.
2. I was born in India in 2000. In 2003, my family and I left India and immigrated
to Japan. Japan is my current country of residence and it is where I spent the majority of my life.
In 2018, I graduated from the Hokkaido International School in Sapporo, Japan with a 3.73 GPA.
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-3 Filed 07/13/20 Page 1 of 4
3. In the fall of 2018, I enrolled in the School of Management (“SOM”) at the
University of Buffalo (“UB”), a university within the State University of New York system. I
am currently a rising senior at SOM, and am pursuing a Major in Accounting.
4. The Accounting program at SOM is internationally recognized as a very
competitive and rigorous program. It was my dream to attend and graduate from this prestigious
program.
5. While at UB, I have excelled both academically and professionally. I have
achieved Dean’s List three times, which is a recognition given to full-time undergraduate
students who demonstrate academic excellence by earning a GPA of at least 3.6 while
completing a minimum of 15 or more UB credit hours.
6. In November 2019, my team and I won the “PwC Challenge,” which is a national
competition managed by the international consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers for
undergraduate business students.1
7. Since October 2019, I have worked at UB’s Student Union where I coordinate and
manage hundreds of events for student organizations each year to foster the continued growth of
Buffalo’s diversity and culture.
8. I am an executive board member for Beta Alpha Psi, the most popular accounting
club throughout the nation.
9. I have also become very connected to the Buffalo community outside of UB. In
February 2020, I received a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (“VITA”) certificate. Using this
certificate, I helped prepare income tax returns for low-income families in Buffalo in the spring
of 2020.
1 https://mgt.buffalo.edu/content/mgt/about/news.host.html/content/shared/mgt/news/ub-undergraduates-win-annual-pwc-challenge.detail.html
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-3 Filed 07/13/20 Page 2 of 4
10. As a rising senior, I expected to complete my Accounting degree and graduate in
the spring of 2021. Upon graduation, my plan was to work as an accountant.
11. In March 2020, once I learned that UB’s campus would be closed for at least the
remainder of the school-year, I decided to return to join my family in Japan. I completed my UB
coursework for the spring 2020 semester online.
12. I have resided in Japan since March 2020, and expected to reside there until the
global health pandemic caused by COVID-19 abated. I expected to continue pursuing my UB
coursework online until that time.
13. However, ICE’s July 6, 2020 Rule has completely upended my academic plans,
my professional pursuits, and my entire life.
14. ICE’s Rule requires international students to take in-person courses in order to
maintain their student visa status. Students can no longer maintain their student visa status
through full remote learning.
15. Because Japan’s borders are closed to non-citizens, I am currently not able to
obtain a flight to the United States to take in-person courses. I am incredibly anxious and
worried that I will not be able to return before the start of the semester, which is just weeks
away.
16. If I do not return before the start of the semester, I risk losing my student visa and
the possibility of finishing my Accounting degree at UB. I may have to withdraw from UB if I
am unable to meet the Rule’s requirements.
17. I am devastated by the possibility that I may not be able to finish my degree at
UB.
Case 1:20-cv-05349-VSB Document 5-3 Filed 07/13/20 Page 3 of 4
18. Even if I am able to return to the Unites States at a later time, that does not mean
that I will be able to stay for the remainder of my degree program. The COVID-19 situation is
incredibly fluid, and the situation in New York could worsen at any time. If UB moves to an
online-only program for any reason, I will be forced to leave the country and could be deported,
due to the Rule’s requirements. Moreover, as both Japan and India have border restrictions in
place, there is no guarantee that I would be accepted by either country if I had to leave.
19. I am terrified at the prospect of being removed from the country due to the Rule.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 13th day of July, 2020
/s/ Rohit Khemlani_____________
Rohit Khemlani
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