California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and top education leaders in the state announced Thursday that California was suing the Trump administration in an attempt to stop a new policy that would force international students to leave the country if their schools only offered online classes.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday that students on F-1 and M-1 visas would either need to leave the country or transfer to a school where in-person classes were taking place or else face deportation.

According to a NBC News report,there were more than 40,000 international undergraduate and graduate students during the 2019 fall semester.

In a press release, Becerra said “Shame on the Trump Administration for risking not only the education opportunities for students who earned the chance to go to college, but now their health and well-being as well,”… “Today, President Trump appears set to do just that — amidst a global pandemic of historic proportions. Not on our watch.”

California is the first state to file a lawsuit against the directive. You can view the full lawsuit here.

Harvard and MIT filed lawsuits against the administration earlier this week.

According to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, international students contributed $41 billion to the U.S. GDP during the 2018-19 school year.