US JUDGE HALTS TRUMP POLICY CUTTING VISA DURATION FOR STUDENTS, SCHOLARS, JOURNALISTS

Tue 15 September 2026:

A US judge on Monday blocked a Trump administration rule that would have shortened the validity period of visas for international students, academics and foreign journalists.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the rule on July 17, which capped all student and academic visas at four years, “regardless of the anticipated or likely length of educational program or research.” For journalists, the cap was significantly reduced to 240 days.

In a Massachusetts federal court, Judge F. Dennis Saylor blocked the rule, stating that the Trump administration’s reasons for limiting the length of stay were “exceptionally weak.”

Three organizations representing colleges, universities and educators as well as four labor organizations — including one for journalists — filed the lawsuit to block the DHS ruling, which would have affected 1.6 million people with F visas pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and 500,000 people with J visas who require sponsorship to live in the United States.

Foreign journalists would have had to apply for an extension through DHS, and if their applications were denied, they would have had no recourse against the decision and would not have been allowed to appeal.

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Saylor ruled that the Trump administration’s reasoning for implementing the policy was so arbitrary that the measure itself was unlawful.

“The weakness and the connection between the rule and its purported rationales raises legitimate questions as to whether its real purpose is not to safeguard national security and protect our borders, but to achieve other, undisclosed goals — such as, for example, asserting greater government control over academic institutions and the press,” Saylor stated in his ruling.

The DHS did not say whether it would appeal the ruling, but said in a statement: “If the media really cared about legitimate international students, they would be thanking President (Donald) Trump for cracking down on the rampant fraud to ensure only those truly intending to study in the United States are given the privilege.”

The judge wrote in his ruling that there is no evidence of widespread fraud by immigrants posing as students and said that Trump officials based their reasoning for the rule “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.”

He also said that the rule would be detrimental to the US.

“The damage to the higher education system and to the economy of the United States is likely to be catastrophic,” said Saylor. “The government has acknowledged that compliance costs alone will likely total more than $250 million in the first year.”

In addition, the judge cited the plaintiffs’ argument against the rule that the “change will have the unavoidable effect of making the United States a less attractive destination for the world’s top students.”

“Many American colleges and universities — already struggling with declining enrollment based on demographic changes — will likewise suffer huge economic impacts,” said Saylor, adding that the Trump administration’s reasons for implementing the rule did not make sense.

“The government’s contention that the rule is necessary to safeguard national security borders on the absurd,” he said, ruling in favor of the plaintiffs.

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claims,” wrote Saylor, adding that “immediate irreparable harm will ensue if this Final Rule is not enjoined; and that the balance of the equities and the public interest favor issuance of a preliminary injunction.”

-Source: AA

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