Federal judge blocks Trump rule limiting international students’ length of stay in U.S.

A federal judge halted a Department of Homeland Security rule on Monday that would have restricted the length of time international students can study in the United States. 

Under the rule, which was set to go into effect Tuesday, international students would have four years to complete their degrees, instead of the longstanding practice of allowing students in good standing to stay in the country until they finish their studies. 

In his order, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote that the Trump administration did not adequately address public comments made about the proposed rule, which is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

“The government’s contention that the rule is necessary to safeguard national security borders on the absurd,” Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV wrote in a Monday order. “It is based almost entirely on a small handful of anecdotes, each of which involved incidents that the new rule would do nothing to prevent or even mitigate.”

The challenge to the policy was brought by a group of organizations representing universities, educators and graduate students. 

The Department of Homeland Security has previously argued that the proposal is needed to reduce how long international student spend in country and to enhance national security.

“Today’s decision recognizes the serious and irreparable harm this rule would cause to international students and scholars, higher education institutions, and communities across the country, as well as to the U.S. economy, research and innovation,” Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Education, said in a statement. 

The Trump administration has also tried to limit international students’ presence in the country by attempting to impose a six-figure fee on H-1B visa applicants. That proposal must also go through the federal rule-making process in which the Trump administration will have to respond to public comments related to the proposed regulation. 

This story was originally published by EdSource.