ICE to Require Student Visa Holders Enrolled in Online Programs Only to Depart United States

Posted July 6, 2020

UPDATE — July 14, 2020

Turns out they were kidding.  After being sued by Harvard and MIT, the Trump Administration announced a rescission of this policy.  No longer are currently enrolled foreign students required to depart the United States if their schools offer entirely online instruction this Fall.

Expect further rule changes, however, including a possible application of this rule to foreign students abroad.  Stay tuned.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a major rule change today that will impact thousands of F-1 and M-1 student visa holders inside the United States.  Effective this coming Fall 2020 semester, foreign students that are enrolled in universities or vocational schools which are only offering online academic programs due to the COVID-19 outbreak will be required to depart the United States.

No kidding.

Let’s wait to see how the court challenges to this major rule change play out.  If you are student visa holder in the Sacramento or northern California Bay Area, call (415) 858-8616 to schedule a consultation.

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Significant Drop Seen in Illegal Migration

Posted December 5, 2011

By implication from the volume of arrests, the number of illegal border-crossers entering the United States through the southwestern border has plummeted to levels not seen for nearly forty years.  According to figures released last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 327,577 persons were arrested along the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2011, a drop in 25% from the prior year and a pittance of the 1.6 million persons arrested in 2000.  This trend, coupled with Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) removal of nearly 400,000 individuals from the country in fiscal year 2011 – the largest number of removals in the agency’s history – bodes favorably for the immigration reform debate, given the frequent caveat by tepid proponents of immigration reform that the border must be secured before comprehensive changes to immigration laws are implemented.  Since 2004, the number of Border Patrol agents has been doubled and physical barriers improved, along with technological advances in security measures, such as the use of cameras, sensors and Predator drones (yes, Predator drones).  Will a precipitous drop in illegal migration change the political environment for comprehensive immigration reform? Stay tuned.

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DHS Stepping Up Security Checks on Visa Overstays.

Posted September 19, 2011

The Department of Homeland Security has increased national security reviews of travelers who overstay their visas, including cross-checking individuals with interagency databases. Announcing a program that effectively started this past spring, DHS deputy counterterrorism coordinator John Cohen revealed that a recent check of 1.6 million overstay records resulted in follow up investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of almost 2,000 individuals deemed possible threats to national security or public safety. The program, initially recommended by the 9/11 Commission in response to the terrorist hijackers who overstayed their visas, is expected to continue for the indefinite future. From the New York Daily News.

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