US Visa Politics

What is the issue?

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US ICE) has given new regulations for international students’ visa.
The US administration is pursuing controversial immigration policy measures following the pandemic.

What were the ICE’s directives?

ICE asked the students currently in the U.S. enrolled in programmes that would be administered in online mode to leave the country.
Another possibility for these students is to transfer to a university with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.
If not, ICE cautioned, they risk the initiation of removal proceedings or similar immigration consequences.
Students attending schools offering normal in-person classes could stay.
However, they cannot take more than one class or three credit hours online.
Visa issuance to students enrolled in universities or programmes that are conducted entirely online for the fall 2020 semester will be stopped.
Such students will not be permitted to enter the U.S.

What is Trump’s immigration policy?

Lawsuits were filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to block the ICE directive.
This is the latest twist in an ongoing immigration policy crackdown by the Trump administration.
These include a halt in the issuance of many visa categories as well as the halt in green card processing.

What are the arguments against the move?

There is no possible rationale behind imperilling the lives of foreign students who were admitted to universities on merit.
These students do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. jobs.
It may be futile to wall off large swathes of the economy to the capable foreign workers who are delivering value in many jobs in the U.S.
So, this political move by Trump may damage, in the longer term, the economic prospects of the very U.S. people he claims to be fighting for.

Source: The Hindu