Trump administration rescinds rule on international students
AP
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The Trump administration has rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer schools or leave the country if their colleges hold classes entirely online this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Photo: CGTN

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the decision as a court hearing was getting underway on a challenge to the rule by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The suit argued that the policy was created unlawfully and that it contradicted previous guidance from federal immigration officials. The colleges were asking the court to block the rule at least temporarily. Under the policy, international students in the U.S. would have been forbidden from taking all of their courses online this fall. 

New visas would not have been issued to students at schools planning to provide all classes online, which includes Harvard. Students already in the U.S. would have faced deportation if they didn’t transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily.

The rule created a dilemma for thousands of foreign students who stayed in the U.S. after their colleges shifted to remote learning last spring.

As part of the policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told colleges to notify the agency no later than Wednesday if they planned to hold all classes online this fall. Other colleges had until Aug. 1 to share their fall plans with ICE.

The case was being heard by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who was nominated to the court in 2014 by former President Barack Obama.

The policy had drawn sharp backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the challenge by Harvard and MIT.

Colleges say the policy put students’ safety at risk and hurt schools financially. At least seven other suits had filed by schools and states opposing the policy.