The legal response to the move was almost immediate. Harvard and MIT filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security the mere days after the announcement. On Monday, various tech giants, including Facebook, Google and Microsoft, joined a separate lawsuit against the Trump administration. Those companies depend on international talent to build out and maintain their talent pools. “These students contribute substantially to the US economy when they are resident in the United States,” they said in the brief. The parties went on to say the Trump administration hadn’t done the necessary work to measure the measure’s impact. 

The government didn’t say why it was rescinding the order, but CNN reports the White House keenly felt the blowback from the announcement. According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, the Trump administration is likely to announce a revised policy that targets newly-enrolled students. If it materializes, that order is expected to be challenged in court as well.