Seventeen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's international student ban on Monday, seeking to halt the new federal rule that strips international students of their visas if their coursework is entirely online when classes resume this August.

The rule has been criticized by states and educational institutions as a way to pressure colleges and universities to reopen their campuses with in-person classes during the pandemic. It comes as coronavirus cases are spiking in states across the country. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, challenges the order and calls it "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States."

The legal action was jointly filed by attorneys general for Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit, which names the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants, is the latest legal challenge to the Trump administration's rule.