U.S. Customs and Border Protection building Washington, D.C. June 6, 2020.

The University of California system has enlisted Crowell & Moring in its suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement over its new policy requiring international students to leave the United States if their coursework has become fully remote in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The complaint filed July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California follows a similar suit brought by Johns Hopkins University last week.

Crowell & Moring's Jennifer Romano and Emily Kuwahara and a team of lawyers from the University of California's Office of the General Counsel said ICE's rule change "displays a callous disregard for students."

"Under any circumstance, the manner and suddenness by which ICE announced and intends to implement its new policy would be shocking in a system that champions the rule of law and public input on agency rules before they are finalized," wrote the lawyers for the Regents of the University of California. "That the about-face comes against the backdrop of a worsening public health crisis in this country makes it not only unlawful, but cruel and dangerous."

The university system announced that it planned to sue the agencies Wednesday. In a statement, UC board of regents Chair John Pérez said that the university's legacy and leadership would not be the same without international students.

"Even last-ditch efforts can cause real harm, so it is imperative for UC to file this lawsuit in order to protect our students," he said. "To UC's international students, I say: 'We support you and regret the additional chaos ICE's action has caused.' To the courts, I say, 'We are the University of California. UC knows science, UC knows law, and we approach both in good faith. Our opponents have shown you time and again that they do not.'"

Johns Hopkins brought a similar suit July 10, backed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Both suits are seeking court orders vacating and setting aside the policy and reinstating ICE's prior guidance issued March 13, the day President Donald Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, which provided an exemption to a rule requiring F-1 student visa holders to attend most classes in person.

On Monday, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher filed a complaint on behalf of a coalition of 20 West Coast colleges and universities, including the University of Southern California, University of Oregon, Stanford University and California Institute of Technology.

The institutions of higher learning "refuse to tolerate ICE's unwarranted and unlawful action that threatens to disrupt the education of hundreds of thousands of hardworking students and their academic environments and missions," according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

The Gibson Dunn attorneys also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The coalition is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that stays the effectiveness of the policy, given that the rule asks students to submit operational plans by Wednesday and revised plans by Aug. 1.