Trump’s anti-student salvo has to do with what he considers enemy within — liberalism | Bhaskar Chakravorti in The Indian Express

In his latest op-ed in The Indian Express, Dean Chakravorti unpacks the Trump administration’s decision to ban international college students in the United States if their colleges adopt an online-only instruction model for the Fall 2020 semester. According to Chakravorti, this decision was not made in an attempt to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic but as an attack on what he considers to be the enemy within– liberalism.

The ICE announcement risks making noncitizens of the US second-class citizens in digital classrooms. It eliminates the option of traveling to gain better digital access or time zone synchronisation. Those who are forced to return, must uproot themselves, face restrictions in travel, return to potentially unsafe conditions or carry unsafe conditions with them — the US has the highest volume of COVID-19 cases in the world.

Bhaskar Chakravorti, The Indian Express

With so many other issues taking precedent in the United States — like the staggering number of COVID-19 cases and the civil unrest caused by racial injustice — why is the Trump administration picking this fight?