During an interview Tuesday, Cuccinelli defended the new immigration enforcement rule by saying foreign students must leave the U.S. if their school moves classes online. He said there is no reason for such students to be in the U.S. unless their school reopens physical campuses.

Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli defends forcing international students to leave US if classes go online: “This is now setting the rules for one semester, which we'll finalize later this month that will, again, encourage schools to reopen” https://t.co/fiSJbj2xuO pic.twitter.com/tj5I7Fldts

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 7, 2020

Some universities have said they may lose their revenues if foreign students leave the country. However, Cuccinelli argued the rule will encourage schools to resume in-person classes.

“We’ll again encourage schools to reopen…I’m recognizing some of them are moving their start dates up, some of them are going to hybrid models, some online and some in-person,” he stated. “We’re trying to accommodate as many of those as we can while maintaining the protections for fraud and so forth that are necessary in any sort of international visa program.”

NEW: Har­vard and MIT sue the White House in fed­eral court ­over new rules that would bar in­ternational stu­dents from stay­ing in the U.S. while tak­ing classes en­tirely on­line this fall semester. pic.twitter.com/bJ5K8e0zfb

— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) July 8, 2020

Cuccinelli added that student visas only allow them to attend classes and can not be used for an indefinite stay in the U.S.