U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded his government ‘s policy of banning overseas students who are only taking online classes from living in the U.S., CNN announced on Tuesday night.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week that if their universities switch to online-only courses, foreign students pursuing degrees in the U.S. will have to leave the country or risk deportation.
The new visa rule got widespread criticism. While many kicked against what they saw as an inhuman immigration policy, some saw it as an effort to pressure universities to reopen despite the daily rise in U.S. cases of coronavirus.
Harvard and M.I.T., two reputable universities in the United States, filed a lawsuit against Trump administration over the directive.
One source familiar with the matter, according to CNN, said the White House had felt the blowback to the plan and that those within the West Wing feel it was badly formulated and implemented.
The White House now focuses, according to another source, on having the rule apply only to new students, rather than to students already in the U.S. The White House declined to comment on a policy process underway.
According to U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, the administration should revert to the March policy which offered more autonomy to students enrolled in schools who switched to all-online courses due to the pandemic.
In a statement Tuesday, MIT President L. Rafael Reif praised the government’s announcement.
“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.”
