New ICE Guidance on Foreign Students Rescinded After Swift Pushback

On July 6, 2020, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new guidance that would have forced international students to leave the U.S. if they did not participate in in-person instruction during the fall 2020 semester. On July 14, the Administration announced that the controversial policy facing multiple lawsuits would be dropped. The ICE guidance modified temporary exemptions issued in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those provisions allowed nonimmigrant students to take more online courses than normally permitted by federal regulation. Under the new policy, foreign students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall 2020 semester would have been forced to “depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.” The directive received immediate opposition from the scientific and higher education communities. The American Institute of Biological Sciences issued a statement endorsed by more than 30 of its member societies and organizations that called for the policy to be rescinded immediately. The statement argued, in part: “While all sectors of the United States economy, including higher education institutions, are working to identify responsible strategies for invigorating the economy during an on-going global health crisis, this policy punishes students and educational institutions for behaving responsibly. As we sa...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news