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WASHINGTON, July 13-- Seventeen U.S. states and the District of Columbia sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to reject the federal government's recent rule stripping foreign students of their visas if the institution they are enrolled in only offers online teaching this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. Led by the Massachusetts attorney general's office, the lawsuit came exactly one week after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released guidelines vowing to invalidate foreign students' F-1 and M-1 visas if the educational institution they are enrolled in switches to online-only courses, possibly depriving them of their legal status of stay in the United States. "The Trump Administration didn't even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston, sought an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect, accusing the federal government of engaging in a "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States." Joining Healey in the lawsuit are the attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. | 
