Connecticut has joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop a new federal rule that threatens to bar hundreds of thousands of international students from studying in the United States.

The Trump administration says it will revoke visas for students who are going to school online only.

"If they are not going to be a student or if they are going to be 100% online, then they don't have a basis to be here," said acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccineli.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, challenges what the attorneys general call the federal government's "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States."

It seeks an injunction to stop the rule from going into effect nationwide.

Colleges say they'll be forced to move classes in-person before it's safe, to avoid losing millions of dollars in tuition payments from international students.

"What the Trump administration is proposing is to do today, is to cut UCONN and our state colleges and universities, and private colleges and universities, off at the knees. Literally," said state Attorney General William Tong.

More than 10,000 foreign students go to school in Connecticut.

The lawsuit also includes 40 declarations from a variety of institutions affected by the new rule, including Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, University of Connecticut, and Yale University.

The lawsuit is led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, and joined by the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

On Tuesday, the state will ask a federal judge to temporarily halt these new student visa rules.

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