US President Donald Trump Stands Against His Own Ranks On Foreign Student Rules

US President Donald Trump (Pixabay / Geralt)

JAKARTA - The ranks of the United States (US) government decided to cancel a regulation announced by President Donald Trump regarding the repatriation of tens of thousands of foreign students. This decision came out after receiving criticism from the wider community, including universities and business people.

All of these polemics started when the US Customs and Immigration Service (ICE) announced that international students taking online learning because of COVID-19 had to leave the country. Reporting to Reuters, those who do not heed these rules, are threatened with deportation.

However, the US Government will cancel the plan. US District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to cancel President Trump's order issued on July 6 yesterday.

In addition, lawyers representing the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE also agreed with the picture provided by the judge. Even so, a senior official with the US Department of Homeland Security said the government would still issue regulations regarding foreign students in the coming weeks.

The cancellation made by the US Government came out amid a busy wave of rejections including universities. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for example, they chose the legal route to sue the decision.

Regulatory controversy

ICE's decision to reissue regulations for foreign students is controversial. This is because they plan to issue F-1 and M-1 visas to limit the number of online classes they can join if they still want to live in the US. Even though this rule has been temporarily abolished due to the public health crisis.

A US State Department official, who declined to be identified, said details of the regulation were still under discussion. They are still considering whether there will be differences in the rules between students who have been in the US for a long time and those who have just arrived for the first time.

Meanwhile California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who led the lawsuit against the regulation. In a written statement he said Trump's "arbitrary actions" endanger the health of students and society.