US govt rescinds controversial rule on intl students: federal judge

A student enjoys day time outdoors on the campus of Columbia University in New York, the United States, March 10, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

The US government has rescinded a new rule that could have denied international students their stay in the country if they only attend online courses in the coming fall semester, a federal judge in Boston, Massachusetts said Tuesday.

Judge Allison Burroughs, who presided over a hearing Tuesday on a lawsuit filed last week by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) against the federal directive, said at the start of the hearing that the government and the universities reached a settlement, under which "both the policy directive and the frequently asked questions would not be enforced anyplace."

Announced by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 6 but not yet implemented, the guidance that caused turmoil and triggered outrage in the country's higher education system forced international students to choose between attending at least one in-person class in the fall semester -- transferring to another school if the one they are enrolled in only offers tele-classes due to the coronavirus pandemic -- and leaving the United States as their student visas would be invalidated.

According to the settlement, a March 13 guidance by the ICE will be reinstated, allowing international students to take all their classes online during the pandemic while staying in the United States legally.

Burroughs said the settlement applied to higher education institutions nationwide. The Harvard-MIT lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to prohibit the ICE from enforcing the July 6 rule.