Many young learners were met with a sign of relief as the Trump administration has decided that all international students will be allowed to stay in the United States, even if they take all online classes. The move revokes a decision made by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) earlier last week.
What We Know:
- The previous decision set last Monday by the SEVP stated international students were required to leave the country if all the courses were online. Normally, international students are not allowed to take a full course load online, but those restrictions have loosened due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said in a hearing Tuesday afternoon that the government reversed its position on the rules, which would have barred international students taking courses remotely from staying in the U.S.
- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and 17 other attorneys general Monday filed their own lawsuit against DHS and ICE over the new rules.
- The original policy sparked up swift backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the challenge by Harvard and MIT. Colleges have said that the policy would not only put many students’ safety at risk and damage schools financially. The income of international students alone could make intuitions lose millions should the initial rule stood.
- A statement by the American Council on Education (ACE), which represents university presidents, praised ICE’s pullback of the rule. The group acknowledged that the policy had opposition since its creation, and this rescission is extremely beneficial to everyone in the end.
- Despite the current outcome, some were still wary of calling the case closed. Healey warned that the Trump administration might attempt again to impose limits on international students in the future.
“ICE is rescinding its rule that threatens to deport international students, a day after we filed our lawsuit,” Healey tweeted after the Tuesday ruling. “This is why we sue. The rule was illegal, and the Trump Administration knew they didn’t have a chance. They may try this again. We will be ready.”
