A federal judge blocked the Trump administration Monday from imposing new limits on how long foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists can remain in the United States, stopping the immigration rule one day before it was scheduled to take effect.
U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Massachusetts postponed the rule nationwide while a challenge brought by higher education groups and labor unions moves forward. The policy would have replaced a system used for nearly 50 years with fixed periods of admission, generally limiting international students and exchange visitors to four years and foreign journalists to 240 days before they would need government approval to stay longer.
About 1.6 million people currently hold F status and roughly 500,000 hold J status, according to the ruling. The rule also covers I status, which is used by representatives of foreign media.
Monday’s decision keeps the existing “duration of status” system in place. International students can generally remain in the country while they continue an authorized course of study or approved practical training instead of receiving immigration status tied to a fixed expiration date.
Under the Trump administration’s rule, students and exchange visitors whose programs lasted longer than four years would generally have been required to apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for an extension. Foreign journalists would generally have been admitted for up to 240 days at a time and would also need approval to remain longer.
Saylor found the challengers were likely to succeed in showing that the Department of Homeland Security violated federal administrative law when it adopted the rule. He called DHS’s reasons for the change “exceptionally weak” and said the agency failed to adequately address concerns raised about the policy or consider less burdensome alternatives.
“The government’s contention that the rule is necessary to safeguard national security borders on the absurd,” Saylor wrote.
The extension process also drew scrutiny from the judge. Immigration officials would have discretion over requests, while applicants denied an extension would have no administrative appeal. Saylor pointed to doctoral programs that routinely take more than four years and said the restrictions could complicate school transfers, joint degrees and changes in academic programs.
DHS has argued that fixed admission periods would give immigration officials greater oversight of visa holders and help address fraud, overstays and abuse of student visa programs.
DHS General Counsel James Percival criticized the decision, arguing that the current system allows foreign students to remain in the United States for years by continuing to enroll in classes. The administration can appeal Saylor’s ruling.
The case was brought by organizations including the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Auto Workers and the NewsGuild-CWA.
Those groups argue the rule would discourage international students and researchers from coming to U.S. universities, increase immigration-related burdens on schools and create uncertainty for people enrolled in programs that take more than four years to complete.
Saylor said limiting relief to the groups that sued could leave students subject to different immigration rules depending on their university and create problems when they transfer between schools.
The dispute, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration v. Department of Homeland Security, centers in part on whether DHS adequately justified the change under the Administrative Procedure Act, the federal law governing how agencies adopt and implement regulations.
Saylor used that law to postpone the rule’s effective date nationwide while the case proceeds. The order does not permanently eliminate the regulation, but it prevents DHS from putting the new limits into effect while the broader challenge continues.
Foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists will remain under the existing duration-of-status system for now. The Trump administration can ask a federal appeals court to lift Saylor’s order.
