A new visa rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) prompted unions to launch a lawsuit deemed “performative” as they accused the president of an “assault on knowledge.”
The open border policies of the Biden administration may have been the most observable disregard for defending national sovereignty, but they were far from the only source of illegal immigration issues in the United States. As crackdowns on visa overstays continue, the Trump administration is now facing a lawsuit over caps on how long foreign students and journalists are permitted to stay in America.
With a list of plaintiffs including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and the United Auto Workers Local 2322, a suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over new limits set to take effect September 15.
“These sweeping changes are catastrophic for universities, international students and scholars, and the Nation as a whole,” as the new rule merely caps stay durations before an extension application is necessary. “They will discourage foreign students and other nonimmigrants from coming to the United States, repelled by the intolerable prospect of losing lawful immigration status partway through their studies.”
NEW: Today, we joined a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end a longstanding visa framework that will affect foreign journalists working in the U.S, along with international students and scholars. pic.twitter.com/kxvPSfywxS
— The NewsGuild-CWA (@newsguild) August 18, 2026
According to the new rule, F-status students and J-status exchange visitors will be admitted for the length of their program, but no more than four years before having to seek an extension. I-status journalists are to be limited to 240 days unless they hold a passport from communist China, in which case only 90 days. Extensions are allowed for windows up to the same number of days, but not exceeding the duration of the assignment.
“Students will lose opportunities, schools will lose talent, and the public will lose billions of dollars of economic contributions supported by one of the United States’ top exports: education,” argued the suit, which repeatedly presented tuition revenue as a priority, as international students are known to pay higher rates. “DHS and its personnel, too, will suffer, flooded with hundreds of thousands of new extension of stay requests each year.”
Among the suit’s plaintiffs, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss stated in part, “In addition to attacking international students and scholars, the Trump administration is again attacking journalists by also shortening the duration of I-Visas, which support the important work of international journalists working in the United States.”
He further called the rule “just another attempt by this administration to chill reporting done by talented journalists.”
Likewise, AFT President Randi Weingarten contended, “This latest assault on knowledge by the Trump administration arbitrarily limits how long international scholars have to complete their studies and risks turning a welcoming environment for students into a hostile one.”
A statement from a DHS spokesperson to Reuters cut past to hyperbole and deemed the lawsuit “performative” while expressing, “If the media really cared about legitimate international students, they would be thanking President Trump for cracking down on the rampant fraud to ensure only those truly intending to study in the United States are given the privilege.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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