On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a directive on student visas that would compel international students to leave the United States if their coursework were entirely online.  Since the U.S. has so far failed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. schools are planning to offer classes entirely online this fall.  In effect, the ICE directive will negatively impact hundreds of thousands of international students directly and various segments of the U.S. society indirectly.  

Reactions against the proposed rule were broad, swift and strong.

A week after the announcement, a federal judge in Boston announced on July 14, 2020 that the Trump administration has rescinded its policy.  However, there were still reports that the White House may focus on applying the rule to new students instead of existing students.  On July 24, ICE introduced the new rule to new students.