Trump administration's planned purge of international students serves a cruel purpose

This week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced new rules requiring international students to leave the United States if their colleges or universities institute online-only learning measures for the fall under the threat of Covid-19.

It's another disgusting, transparent Trump administration attack on foreigners and immigrants, one that is solely about malice -- and one that further diminishes the United States' influence and reputation while putting human life at risk.

With Covid-19 infections still raging across the country and on the rise in multiple states, colleges, universities and vocational programs are making tough decisions about the 2020-2021 school year.

It's clear that in normal times, in-person classes have significant benefits over online ones. But these are not normal times and pulling large groups of students together in lecture halls is a practically ready-made scenario for Covid-19 transmission.

Institutions of higher learning have an obligation to educate their students, and an obligation to keep them -- along with their faculty and staff -- safe. That means many are making the difficult and imperfect choice to put health first, and convene classes and lectures online. No, it's not ideal for everyone. But it's a heck of a lot better than mass illness and death.