The U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week announced that foreign students who are
pursuing degrees in the U.S. will have to leave the country or risk deportation
if their universities switch to online-only courses.
The new visa rule
received wide criticisms. While many kicked against what they considered an
inhumane immigration policy, some saw it as an effort to pressure universities
into reopening despite daily rise in coronavirus cases in the U.S.
Two reputable
universities in the United States, Harvard and M.I.T., filed a lawsuit against
the Trump administration over the directive.
According to CNN,
one person familiar with the matter said the White House has felt the blowback
to the proposal and that some inside the West Wing believe it was poorly
conceived and executed.
According to another
source, the White House is now focused on having the rule apply only to new
students, rather than students already in the U.S. The White House declined to
comment on an ongoing policy process.
According to U.S.
District Judge Allison Burroughs, the administration will return to the policy
that was in effect in March, which provided more flexibility for students
enrolled in schools that switched to all-online courses because of the pandemic.
MIT President L.
Rafael Reif celebrated the government’s decision in a statement Tuesday.
“This case also made
abundantly clear that real lives are at stake in these matters, with the
potential for real harm,” he said. “We need to approach policymaking,
especially now, with more humanity, more decency — not less.”
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