Unions, advocacy groups sue to overturn US visa rule for foreign students, journalists

A coalition of labor unions and advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn a new U.S. immigration rule set by the Trump administration. The regulation in question modifies the duration of visas for international students, cultural exchange visitors, and journalists.

Currently, foreign students and exchange program participants are granted visas valid for the entirety of their studies or employment in the United States. Similarly, journalists can hold visas for extended periods, sometimes exceeding several years. However, the new regulations, set to take effect on September 15, would cap visa periods for students and exchange visitors at a maximum of four years, while journalists' visas would be limited to 240 days in most cases, or 90 days for Chinese nationals.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that these changes would have devastating consequences for universities, international students and scholars, as well as the U.S. news industry. The NewsGuild-CWA, representing many U.S. journalists at Reuters, described the regulation as an "attack on journalists" and warned that it would dissuade foreign students and nonimmigrants from coming to the United States.

They stated that such an outcome would result in students losing opportunities, schools losing talent, and the public losing billions of dollars in economic contributions made by education, a key export of the United States.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security dismissed the lawsuit as "performative," implying that journalists would be grateful for tougher immigration enforcement if they genuinely cared about international students. The spokesperson did not provide any evidence to support their claim of alleged fraud.