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posted by martyb on Thursday July 16 2020, @11:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the sudden-outbreak-of-common-sense? dept.

Trump admin caves to Harvard and MIT, won’t deport online-only students:

The Trump administration has rescinded a controversial policy that could have forced the deportation of foreign students who attend colleges that aren't offering in-person classes during the coronavirus pandemic.

As we reported last week, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration to block the policy issued by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Under the policy change announced July 6, foreign students with nonimmigrant (F-1 and M-1) visas would have had to leave the United States or transfer to different schools that offer in-person classes.

But US officials agreed to rescind the new policy in a settlement with Harvard and MIT, as revealed [Tuesday] at a hearing on the case at US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. "At a short hearing Tuesday afternoon, US District Judge Allison Burroughs confirmed that a settlement had been reached," The Wall Street Journal reported. "She said the government would rescind the policy, withdraw an FAQ detailing the rule and return to the status quo of guidance issued in the spring."

Under a policy issued on March 13, which is back in effect because of the settlement, ICE provided an exemption to the rule that F-1 students must attend classes in person. The Harvard/MIT lawsuit pointed out that, when ICE issued this exemption, "the government made clear that this arrangement was 'in effect for the duration of the emergency.'" But the Trump administration's July 6 order reversed that policy despite the pandemic raging on and the fact that President Trump had not rescinded his national emergency declaration.

Harvard and MIT argued in their lawsuit that the Trump administration's July 6 policy change "is arbitrary and capricious because it fails to consider important aspects of the problem before the agency... fails to offer any reasoned basis that could justify the policy." The lawsuit also argues that the change violates a requirement to provide public notice and take comments.

Previously:
(2020-07-08) New Rules: Foreign Pupils Must Leave US if Classes Go Online-Only


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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Bot on Thursday July 16 2020, @02:47PM (4 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Thursday July 16 2020, @02:47PM (#1022416) Journal

    I tend to agree. Orange man had made the sensible choice, if you don't need to be there then you don't need to be there: lefties disagreed by default, University and landlords and Starbucks quietly elbowed the administration, he caved in.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Common Joe on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:54PM (3 children)

    by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Thursday July 16 2020, @03:54PM (#1022448) Journal

    There are many things to consider. For instance:

    • If we kick the students out, then they aren't here paying money inside the U.S. (for food and a roof). They are back home supporting their local economy instead of the U.S. Indeed, I saw an article a few days ago saying the economic impact of sending the students back would severely hurt the U.S.
    • The students being kicked out might be locked in a contract. They may have to continue paying for their U.S. apartment despite being kicked out to their home country where they will have to pay for yet another apartment.
    • The students who come from overseas have a big time difference if they go back home. It might be 2 AM when they are attending an online class or having to do homework. (Speaking to your classmates while doing a group project in the middle of the night while your parents and siblings are trying to sleep isn't a great thing.)
    • We should be talking only about students who would be here normally. Once they graduate or if they are kicked out of the university for other reasons, they should go home under normal rules.
    • And for all these reasons, students who are considering coming to the U.S. will have second thoughts despite the reversal. Speaking from personal experience, doing school in another country is really difficult. There are burdens that internationals carry that local students don't. Additional unnecessary headaches like this would make me reject a country outright.
    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:18PM

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:18PM (#1022461) Journal

      doing school in another country is really difficult.

      There was a time when it was really special, and the US was the most powerful magnet, until 1971, when the first McDonald's opened in Europe

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    • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday July 16 2020, @10:16PM (1 child)

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Thursday July 16 2020, @10:16PM (#1022601)

      You can also add that we could be losing a large number of intelligent, well educated immigrants that might otherwise have stayed, become citizens, and contributed a great deal. You know, the kind of people that "made America great".

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @02:23PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @02:23PM (#1022895)

        He's mad that these foreign Ph.D. students are taking away all of the jobs that could be staffed by all of the people who lost their jobs in the manufacturing sectors. As Ivanka says, just do something different! Today you're working the assembly line, and tomorrow you could be a doing surgery as a neurosurgeon (maskless, of course, because requiring masks in the operating room is an egregious affront to your personal liberties)!