[ti:US Withdraws Planned Visa Restriction for International Students]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump
[00:03.84]has withdrawn planned visa restrictions for international students.
[00:10.48]The restrictions would have forced international students to leave the country
[00:15.48]if their schools held classes online because of the coronavirus crisis.
[00:22.92]The surprise announcement came during a federal court hearing
[00:27.16]on Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts.
[00:31.64]Both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
[00:36.92]had filed the legal action seeking to overturn the rule.
[00:43.56]Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration officials
[00:47.88]had agreed to cancel the planned restrictions,
[00:51.84]which were announced July 6, and "return to the status quo."
[00:59.00]A lawyer representing the U.S. government confirmed
[01:03.04]that the judge's announcement was correct.
[01:07.20]The decision means that international students are again permitted
[01:11.76]to attend classes online and keep their visas
[01:16.16]during the health emergency "exemption."
[01:20.44]Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
[01:22.96]had established the exemption on March 13,
[01:27.00]when the coronavirus was spreading across the country.
[01:32.88]But on July 6, the agency said international students
[01:37.56]must take at least some of their college classes in person
[01:41.68]during the upcoming autumn term.
[01:45.36]If they could not, they must transfer to another school
[01:49.40]offering in-person classes or leave the country.
[01:54.44]The agency added that students would have to leave the country
[01:58.60]even if a health emergency forces their classes online
[02:03.24]after the school year begins.
[02:07.12]The restriction came on the same day
[02:09.60]that Harvard and several other colleges said
[02:12.64]they would hold all of their classes online in the fall.
[02:18.88]On July 8, Harvard and MIT filed legal action against the new restriction.
[02:27.60]Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said at the time
[02:32.32]that the restriction "comes at a time when the United States
[02:35.92]has been setting daily records for the number of new infections."
[02:41.76]More than 200 colleges and at least 17 states have supported the action.
[02:49.16]Some colleges also filed their own legal action against the rule.
[02:56.16]About 5,000 international students at Harvard
[03:00.20]and nearly 4,000 attending MIT could have lost their visas under the restriction.
[03:08.20]Across the United States,
[03:10.56]nearly 400,000 international students received the F-1 or M-1 visa
[03:17.52]in the 12-month period ending in September 2019.
[03:23.44]"I feel relief," said Andrea Calderon, a biology student from Ecuador.
[03:30.32]The City College of New York student told the Associated Press,
[03:34.92]"It would have been a very big problem
[03:37.36]if I had to leave the country right now."
[03:41.72]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM