Can they even do this? I mean legally, I understand that practically they'll get away with much more than what's allowed by law. I don't get why an enforcement agency should have any say with regards to what's legal and what isn't.
Historically, for the graduate student subset, a course load of 6 credit hours has always been the minimum requirement for face2face lectures in any particular semester. Under very specific circumstances (read: literally one course to graduation or similar) will the DSOs of their school mention the case on their SEVIS records and allow them to continue. Arguments can be made against the morality of not allowing students with improper internet access to come in. But don't let armchair experts lead you to believe it wasn't always this way. Because it was.
Still, I feel like this is not a good thing to do, people are there to study and losing bright minds like these should harm US a lot.