ICE rescinds visa rule

[struggle4progress]

July 14, 2020

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that it will rescind the new federal policy that would have revoked F-1 visas for international students if their course of study is entirely online. The reversal came amid mounting pressure from the higher-education sector, including the University of Pennsylvania.

The response to the policy was swift and decisive. A lawsuit brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an amicus brief filed by Penn and 58 other colleges and universities called on the courts to block the new policy.

The decision resolved the lawsuit which argued that the policy’s “effect—and perhaps even the goal—is to create as much chaos for universities and international students as possible.” The lawsuit also argued that it posed a “grave risk to public health and safety” ...

https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/facing-mounting-pressure-ice-rescinds-visa-rule

[struggle4progress]

1. Government drops new international student visa rules

PUBLISHED JULY 14, 2020

... Following the announcement, Provost Sally Kornbluth and Executive Vice Provost Jennifer Frances sent a message to all international students at Duke expressing their support.

“We know this situation has caused a great deal of uncertainty and stress for you and your families. We want to restate our continued commitment to international students and your ability to pursue your studies and research at Duke,” Kornbluth and Francis wrote.

In a statement Duke President Vincent E. Price welcomed the decision.

“I am pleased that the Department of Homeland Security has reversed an exclusionary visa policy that would have harmed international students and their families,” Price said. “Our university and our nation are strengthened when we welcome diverse voices and perspectives from around the world, and we will continue to strongly advocate for policies that open doors for connection rather than close them” ...

https://today.duke.edu/2020/07/us-government-drops-new-international-student-visa-rules

[struggle4progress]

2. Reverses ruling that would have barred international students from online-only classes

Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published 4:31 p.m. CT July 14, 2020
Updated 5:15 p.m. CT July 14, 2020

Facing widespread backlash from universities, the Trump administration announced Tuesday it will drop a rule that international students at U.S. universities must take in-person college classes in order to stay in the country.

The decision comes a little more than a week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the rule, which reversed previous guidance allowing students on F1 visas to take all their courses online during the coronavirus pandemic.

Eight federal lawsuits have been filed in opposition to the rule, including one multistate suit that Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul signed onto Monday. "This unlawful policy pressures colleges and universities to provide in-person instruction regardless of whether it’s safe to do so and threatens to cause further harm to our economy," he said.

The reversal was announced at the start of a hearing on a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to stop the rule ...

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2020/07/14/facing-backlash-trump-reverses-rule-threatening-international-students/5438395002/

[struggle4progress]

3. DHS, ICE agree to revoke visa restrictions on international students

by ERIN GRETZINGER · Jul 14, 2020

... Following a lawsuit filed against the new Visa policy for non-immigrant college students by Wisconsin and 17 other states, DHS and ICE will retract the July regulations, according to CBS News.

ICE agreed to reinstate the original guidelines made for the pandemic in March 2020, according to CBS. Shortly after the arguments for the multi-state lawsuit began today in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, ICE’s decision to pull the policy was announced by a federal judge, according to the Associated Press.

The rule would have forced international students with F-1 visas to leave the country if they could not enroll for in-person classes. Additionally, new visas would not be issued to new students planning to attend schools with only online instruction programs, and returning students would not be allowed to enter the country, according to the void July ICE guidelines ...

https://badgerherald.com/news/2020/07/14/dhs-ice-agree-to-revoke-visa-restrictions-on-international-students/

[struggle4progress]

4. ICE rescinds rule

BY ASHLEIGH PANOO
JULY 14, 2020 02:11 PM , UPDATED 28 MINUTES AGO

Amid mounting lawsuits from universities and colleges in California and beyond, the Trump Administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would force international students to return to their country if they could not attend school in-person in the fall or risk deportation, the Associated Press reported.

The announcement was made at a federal lawsuit hearing against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security brought on by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A lawyer representing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said officials would pull the rule, which was announced July 6, and “return to the status quo,” the AP reported ...

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article244224482.html

[Grokenstein]

5. MAGA America: Hates Immigrants, Doesn't Want to Educate Citizens

That's gonna work out REEEEEAL well.

[struggle4progress]

8. Death on a stick! These incompetents thoughtlessly waste everybody's time!

This now-rescinded policy must have cost this country millions of hours of completely unnecessary email communications, campus policy meetings, lawyers' brief production research, student scrambling to investigate apartment rental termination options and to investigate airline reservations ...

Their policy seems to be Making everybody run around pointlessly, like headless chickens, will be good for the economy!

[struggle4progress]

6. Administration reverses course on student visa rule

Published Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2020, 5:12 pm

The Trump administration has withdrawn its new rule that threatened to bar hundreds of thousands of international students from studying in the United States, following a lawsuit filed yesterday by Attorney General Mark R. Herring and a coalition of 18 attorneys general.

Currently more than 13,500 international students study at Virginia’s colleges and universities.

“Today’s win is great news for Virginia’s schools, our students, and our communities, and stands as a reminder that when you stand up to bullies, they tend to back down,” Herring said. “The Trump administration’s plan to deport international students was illegal from the start and I’m really proud that we were able to stop it from ever going into effect. Virginia’s college campus communities are made so much stronger by the presence and contributions of international students and I am so glad they will be able to study at our great colleges and universities this fall.”

In a hearing held this afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that they would rescind their new directive and return to guidance that they issued in March that recognized the COVID-19 public health emergency, provided flexibility for schools, and allowed international students with F-1 and M-1 visas to take classes online for the duration of the emergency ...

https://augustafreepress.com/about-face-trump-administration-reverses-course-on-student-visa-rule/

[struggle4progress]

7. Harvard, MIT Students Submit Declarations in ICE Lawsuit

By Camille G. Caldera and Michelle G. Kurilla, Crimson Staff Writers
2 hours ago

After learning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had changed its rules to require students completing online-only coursework to leave the United States, Student 6 grew “immediately concerned” that their young family was about to be “separated or uprooted.”

Student 6 — the moniker by which they are known in court documents to protect their anonymity — is an Australian citizen working towards their Ph.D. at Harvard.

But their daughter, who was born in March, is an American citizen. Pandemic-related delays have prevented them from securing a passport for their daughter, and they believe the process may take several more months.

“If I am forced to leave the United States, I could be separated from my infant daughter, something I cannot imagine,” Student 6 wrote. “Given the ongoing uncertainty around passport processing times, I do not know how long we would be separated” ...

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/7/15/harvard-mit-ice-lawsuit-student-declarations/

[struggle4progress]

9. Administration abandons new restrictive student visa policy in face of legal actions

US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs announced Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to rescind its controversial new rule that would have prohibited international students taking university courses entirely online during the COVID-19 pandemic from staying in the US.

The parties in Harvard v. US Department of Homeland Security informed the court that they came to an agreement with the government that moots the previous necessity for a temporary injunction. The exact details of the agreement remain unclear. The agreement will, however, mark a return to ICE’s March policy directive. That directive allowed student holders of F-1 and M-1 visas to remain in the US for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis even if they are taking classes exclusively online.

Reuters is also reporting that a DHS official has said that “the details of any future regulation on this issue remain under discussion,” and that “officials are still deciding whether to treat students already in the United States differently than students seeking to enter the country for the first time.” Traditionally, traveling to the US on a student visa to take only online courses has been prohibited ...

https://www.jurist.org/news/2020/07/trump-administration-abandons-new-restrictive-student-visa-policy-in-face-of-legal-actions/

[struggle4progress]

10. Government Abandons Foreign Student Visa Policy That Sparked USC Legal Action

JULY 14, 2020

... “We are thrilled that the government backed down and rescinded its rule that would have revoked visas for international students,” according to a USC statement. “That is why we led a coalition of 20 universities and colleges in the West and sued the government and also joined a friend-of-the court brief in the Harvard/MIT case. Our International students are a vital part of the USC community, and they deserve the right to continue their education without risk of deportation” ...

https://mynewsla.com/business/2020/07/14/government-abandons-foreign-student-visa-policy-that-sparked-usc-legal-action-2/