US revokes rule on international students

Boston, July 15: Taking a ' U-Turn' after facing backlashes over the new immigration policy, President Donald Trump's administration has dropped the DHS and ICE rules that would have barred foreign students from the U.S if their classes would go online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

 

 

 

The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and “return to the status quo.”

 

Burroughs said the parties had agreed to a resolution less than five minutes into a hearing for the case Harvard and MIT filed last week asking the courts to bar DHS and ICE from enforcing the policy. The universities drew support from hundreds of peer institutions, dozens of cities and states, and student organizations.

 

 

Since the agencies announced the policy, it created significant issues for international students. In a hearing last week, Harvard’s lawyers cited the case of an incoming Harvard sophomore who stopped at the airport in Minsk, Belarus due to the new guidelines. Other students also filed declarations in the case attesting to the challenges the policy would have posed.

 

The government said it would drop the plan amid a legal challenge brought by universities. But a senior US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said the administration still intended to issue a regulation in the coming weeks addressing whether foreign students can remain in the United States if their classes move online.

 

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow called it a “significant victory.While the government may attempt to issue a new directive, our legal arguments remain strong and the Court has retained jurisdiction, which would allow us to seek judicial relief immediately to protect our international students should the government again act unlawfully,” Bacow said in a statement. The announcement brought relief to thousands of foreign students who had been at risk of being deported from the country.

 

Earlier on Monday, US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) updated it police under which foreign students to leave if they were enrolled in only online classes this fall, Students already in the U.S. would have faced deportation if they didn’t transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily. New visas would not have been issued to students at schools planning to provide all classes online.

 

"Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration," the announcement read.

 

The policy drew a sharp backlash from higher education institutions. After that MIT and Harvard had jointly filed suit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US Department of Homeland Security in federal court in Massachusetts for their order not to permit international students on F-1 visas. MIT and Harvard had asked the court to prevent ICE and DHS from enforcing the new guidance and to declare it unlawful.

 

The United States has admits an estimated 1 million international students every year, who generates around $41 billion worth of economic activity and supports 450,000 jobs, according to the American Council on Education, which represents US colleges and universities. Incomes generated from foreign students are critical to the financial health of many US colleges.