WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration moved Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country.
Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States.
Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240-day periods.
The United States, until now, has generally issued visas for the duration of a student’s educational program or a journalist’s assignment, although no non-immigrant visas are valid for more than 10 years.
The proposed changes were published in the Federal Register, initiating a short period for public comment before it can go into effect.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security alleged that an unspecified number of foreigners were indefinitely extending their studies so they could remain in the country as “’forever’ students.”
“For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars and disadvantaging UScitizens,” the department said in a press statement Wednesday.
The department did not explain how US citizens and taxpayers were hurt by international students, who according to Commerce Department statistics contributed more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023.
The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, more than any other country, providing a crucial source of revenue as foreigners generally pay full tuition.
A group representing leaders of US colleges and universities denounced the latest move as a needless bureaucratic hurdle that intrudes on academic decision-making and could further deter potential students who would otherwise contribute to research and job creation.
“This proposed rule sends a message to talented individuals from around the world that their contributions are not valued in the United States,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
“This is not only detrimental to international students — it also weakens the ability of US colleges and universities to attract top talent, diminishing our global competitiveness.”
The announcement came as universities were starting their academic years with many reporting lower enrollments of international students after earlier actions by the Trump administration.
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Trump moves to limit US stays of students, journalists
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Trump moves to limit US stays of students, journalists
- Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States
- Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240 day periods
Danish ‘ghetto’ tenants hope for EU discrimination win
COPENHAGEN: The European Court of Justice is to rule Thursday whether a Danish law requiring authorities to redevelop poor urban “ghettos” with high concentrations of “non-Western immigrants and their descendants” is discriminatory.
The law means that all social housing estates where more than half of residents are “non-Western” — previously defined as “ghettos” by the government — must rebuild, renovate and change the social mix by renting at least 60 percent of the homes at market rates by 2030.
Danish authorities, which have for decades advocated a hard line on immigration, say the law is aimed at eradicating segregation and “parallel societies” in poor neighborhoods that often struggle with crime.
In the Mjolnerparken housing estate in central Copenhagen, long associated with petty crime and delinquency, residents are confident they’ll win the case they’ve brought before the European court.
They argue that using their ethnicity to decide where they can live is discriminatory and illegal.
“100 percent we will win,” insisted Julia, a resident who did not want to tell AFP her last name.
She said the law was solely about “discrimination and racism.”
Muhammad Aslam, head of the social housing complex’s tenants’ association, was more measured, saying he was “full of hope.”
- Long legal battle -
Mjolnerparken residents filed their lawsuit in 2020.
A preliminary opinion by the European Court of Justice’s advocate general in February called the policy “direct discrimination.”
If the court’s final ruling were to be along those lines, “we will be ... completely satisfied,” Aslam said.
The 58-year-old owner of a transport company who hails originally from Pakistan, he has lived in the estate since it was created in 1987.
He and his wife raised four children in their four-room apartment, children who are now a lawyer, an engineer, a psychologist and a social worker, he said proudly.
“I who am self-employed as well as my children are all included in the negative statistics used to label our neighborhood a ‘ghetto’, a parallel society,” he fumed, referring to official data on the number of non-Western residents.
In Mjolnerparken, the landlord took advantage of a renovation of the four apartment blocks, decided by residents in 2015, to speed up the transformation of the complex and comply with the new legislation.
All of the residents — a total of 1,493 in 2020 — had to be temporarily relocated so the apartments could be refurbished, a representative of the tenants’ association, Majken Felle, told AFP.
At the time, eight out of 10 people in Mjolnerparken were deemed “non-Western,” with people from non-EU countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe also falling into that category.
- ‘Disadvantaged ethnic group’ -
In order to avoid moving from one temporary apartment to another during the lengthy renovations, many residents agreed to just move to another neighborhood.
And those who are determined to return — like Felle, the Aslams and Julia — are at the landlord’s mercy.
“We were supposed to be temporarily relocated for four months, and now it’s been more than three years. Each year, they give us four or five different dates” for when the work will be completed, Aslam sighed.
In total, 295 of Mjolnerparken’s 560 homes have been replaced, with two apartment blocks sold and replaced by market-rate rentals out of reach for social housing tenants.
Experts say some 11,000 people across Denmark will have to leave their apartments and find new housing elsewhere by 2030.
“The effort to diversify neighborhoods might indeed be well intended. Nevertheless, such diversification cannot be achieved by placing an already disadvantaged ethnic group in a less favorable position,” the advocate general said in February.
“However, in the present situation, the Danish legislation does precisely that.”
Even if the court does not rule in residents’ favor on Thursday, the legal case could still continue in Denmark, Felle said.
But it would be a serious setback.
“That would mean that Denmark had carte blanche to adopt as many discriminatory laws as it wants,” said Lamies Nassri of the Center for Muslims’ Rights in Denmark.
“It affects the whole country when there are discriminatory laws, especially Muslim citizens who have been particularly marginalized and stereotyped.”
The law means that all social housing estates where more than half of residents are “non-Western” — previously defined as “ghettos” by the government — must rebuild, renovate and change the social mix by renting at least 60 percent of the homes at market rates by 2030.
Danish authorities, which have for decades advocated a hard line on immigration, say the law is aimed at eradicating segregation and “parallel societies” in poor neighborhoods that often struggle with crime.
In the Mjolnerparken housing estate in central Copenhagen, long associated with petty crime and delinquency, residents are confident they’ll win the case they’ve brought before the European court.
They argue that using their ethnicity to decide where they can live is discriminatory and illegal.
“100 percent we will win,” insisted Julia, a resident who did not want to tell AFP her last name.
She said the law was solely about “discrimination and racism.”
Muhammad Aslam, head of the social housing complex’s tenants’ association, was more measured, saying he was “full of hope.”
- Long legal battle -
Mjolnerparken residents filed their lawsuit in 2020.
A preliminary opinion by the European Court of Justice’s advocate general in February called the policy “direct discrimination.”
If the court’s final ruling were to be along those lines, “we will be ... completely satisfied,” Aslam said.
The 58-year-old owner of a transport company who hails originally from Pakistan, he has lived in the estate since it was created in 1987.
He and his wife raised four children in their four-room apartment, children who are now a lawyer, an engineer, a psychologist and a social worker, he said proudly.
“I who am self-employed as well as my children are all included in the negative statistics used to label our neighborhood a ‘ghetto’, a parallel society,” he fumed, referring to official data on the number of non-Western residents.
In Mjolnerparken, the landlord took advantage of a renovation of the four apartment blocks, decided by residents in 2015, to speed up the transformation of the complex and comply with the new legislation.
All of the residents — a total of 1,493 in 2020 — had to be temporarily relocated so the apartments could be refurbished, a representative of the tenants’ association, Majken Felle, told AFP.
At the time, eight out of 10 people in Mjolnerparken were deemed “non-Western,” with people from non-EU countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe also falling into that category.
- ‘Disadvantaged ethnic group’ -
In order to avoid moving from one temporary apartment to another during the lengthy renovations, many residents agreed to just move to another neighborhood.
And those who are determined to return — like Felle, the Aslams and Julia — are at the landlord’s mercy.
“We were supposed to be temporarily relocated for four months, and now it’s been more than three years. Each year, they give us four or five different dates” for when the work will be completed, Aslam sighed.
In total, 295 of Mjolnerparken’s 560 homes have been replaced, with two apartment blocks sold and replaced by market-rate rentals out of reach for social housing tenants.
Experts say some 11,000 people across Denmark will have to leave their apartments and find new housing elsewhere by 2030.
“The effort to diversify neighborhoods might indeed be well intended. Nevertheless, such diversification cannot be achieved by placing an already disadvantaged ethnic group in a less favorable position,” the advocate general said in February.
“However, in the present situation, the Danish legislation does precisely that.”
Even if the court does not rule in residents’ favor on Thursday, the legal case could still continue in Denmark, Felle said.
But it would be a serious setback.
“That would mean that Denmark had carte blanche to adopt as many discriminatory laws as it wants,” said Lamies Nassri of the Center for Muslims’ Rights in Denmark.
“It affects the whole country when there are discriminatory laws, especially Muslim citizens who have been particularly marginalized and stereotyped.”
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