The Trump administration has rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer schools or leave the country if their universities teach fully online next semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) announced the decision as a court hearing began on a challenge to the rule by Harvard University and the Institute of Technology. Massachusetts (MIT).
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Massachusetts said the U.S. government and the two universities that sued over the measure reached an agreement that would revoke the new rules and restore the previous status quo.
Burroughs was nominated for the court in 2014 by former President Barack Obama.
Students walk near the Widener Library at Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts [File: Charles Krupa/AP Photo]
The lawsuit filed by Harvard University and MIT argued that the policy was created illegally and that it contradicts the prior guidance of federal immigration officials. The universities had been asking the court to block the rule at least temporarily.
Under the policy, international students in the US would have been prohibited from taking all of their courses online when classes restarted. No new visas will be issued to students in schools that plan to provide all classes online, including Harvard. Students already in the US would face deportation if they did not transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily.
The rule created a dilemma for thousands of foreign students who stayed in the US after their universities switched to remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the policy, ICE had told universities to notify the agency no later than Wednesday if they plan to take all classes online during this period. Other universities would have until August 1 to share their fall semester plans.
The policy had sparked a strong backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 court-signed briefs supporting the challenge from Harvard and MIT. Universities say the policy puts student safety at risk and financially harms schools. At least seven other lawsuits have been filed by schools and states that oppose the policy.
On Monday, 17 states and the District of Columbia filed their own lawsuits, arguing that the rule is politically motivated and an attempt by the Trump administration to compel universities to teach in person when classes resume for the new school year.
Immigration officials issued the policy last week, reversing the earlier guidance of March 13 that told universities that limits around online education would be suspended during the pandemic. University leaders believe the rule is part of Trump’s effort to pressure the country’s schools and universities to reopen in August and September, even as new cases of the virus emerge.
A student wearing a mask as she walked through the Harvard University courtyard after the school asked her students not to return to campus after spring break and said she would move on to virtual instruction for classes at Graduate and Undergraduate, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
Harvard and MIT argued that immigration officials violated the rules of procedure by issuing the guide without justification and without allowing the public to respond. They also argued that the policy contradicted the March 13 ICE directive that tells schools that existing limits on online education would be suspended “for the duration of the emergency.”
The lawsuit noted that Trump’s national emergency declaration has not been revoked and that virus cases are on the rise in some regions.
However, immigration officials said they told universities all along that any guidance caused by the pandemic was subject to change. They said the rule is consistent with existing law that prohibits international students from taking classes entirely online. Federal officials also said they were providing leniency by allowing students to retain their visas even if they study online from abroad during the fall semester.
.
