Rescinding a July 7 Immigration Customs Enforcement [ICE] rule that required student with M-1 or F-1 student visas to take at least some portion of their education in face-to-face instruction, the White House did an about face today. Faced with unfavorable ruling in U.S. District Court in Boston and elsewhere, the White House threw in the towel ttoday, withdrawing the ICE rule creating havoc for 213,000 foreign students around the country. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] fileed for injunctive relief in U.S. District Court in Boston where Obama-appointee Judge Allison Burroughs showed sympathy for plaintiff’s arguments. Today’s ICE ruling is a “return to status quo” when it comes to foreign students in the country of M-1 and F-1 visas. Universities and colleges around the country depend on out-of-country tuition for foreign students.
Harvard and MIT argued that it was cruel for the government to end student visa programs for students taking only online classes. Burroughs heard both sides but realized that, through no fault of their own, students were thrown into online-instruction because of the global coronavirus AKA CoV-2 or Covid-19 global pandemic. With cases spiking in the U.S. and around the world, now is not the time to deport students because of a worldwide infectious disease crisis. “These students make us stronger, and we hurt ourselves when we alienate them,” said MIT President Raphael Reif. “This case also made abundantly clear that real lives are at stake in these matters, with the potential for real harm. We need to approach policy making, especially now with more humanity, more decency—not less,” said Reif. But more than student issues, Harvard and MIT were concerned losing turition revenue.
Whether or not students take online classes, especially in the Covid-19 era, there was nothing logical about the ICE rule demanding at least some portion of students’ education be in the classroom. ICE’s ruling would have create created so much disruption for students at a time when air travel could be hazardous to your health. While it’s clear that only online education requires no student visas, it’s also clear that students forced because of Covd-19 academic shutdowns should not be penalized. President Donald Trump and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos want K-12, university and colleges to reopen but, given the risks of Covid-19, failed to sell families, students and educators are reluctant to return to the classroom. DeVos tried but failded to sell school districts around the country to reopen this fall. Trump, too, can’t expect folks living under Covid-19 to jump back into classroom instruction.
Trump and DeVos pushed too hard to get students back into the classrooms, now must face the reality that it’s not happening anytime soon. DeVos argued that data shows children less susceptible to coronavirus than adults. While that may be true, it’s also true that children bring home viruses to the parents, something that makes parents reluctant to take risks on Covid-19. Trump’s decision to rescind the ICE rule, allowing foreign students in the U.S. to receive 100% online instruction, was a great relief to students and universities. Universities had a lot to loose with 213,000 foreign students typically paying full tuition at state and private universities around the country. Attorneys representing Harvard and MIT argued that ICE ruled March 13 that students should not be forced during the coronavirus global pandemic to have to take any face-to-face classroom instruction,
Once the White House realized that Judge Burroughs would grant injunctive relief against the ICE ruling, they threw in the towel. When you consider the tone deafness of the decision, it makes you wonder whether or not the White House pays attention to political implications less than four months before the election. American Council on Education [ACE], representing university presidents, hailed ICE’s decision to rescind requiring some in-class instruction to maintain visa requirements. Many students at major universities were already scrambling due to dorm closings, trying to find alternative arrangements. Yanking visas seemed cruel and entirely unnecessary in the Covid-19 era when ICE said March 13 that it would accommodate online instruction. “There has never been a case where so many institutions sued the federal government,” said Terry Hartle, senior vice president ACE.
Trump found out the hard way what happens when you push too hard to get things back to normal in the Covid-19 era. Whatever hope Trump had for a V-shaped recovery, it’s clear that the economy—and all other aspects of everyday living—will take time to return to a new normal. Most U.S. residents want to get back to some semblance of “normal” when it comes to the economy and basic living and recreation. Since that’s not possible with the virus still setting new records, showing flexibility is preferred to forcing things to happen. “In this case, the government didn’t even try to defend its policymaking,” said Hartle, making the White House look bad. Trump has a enough on his plate for reelection to push for unpopular rules that antagonize future voters. Getting control over the virus would settle many campaign issues heading into the Nov. 3 election.
