Thread: America’s gun violence and visa woes

America’s gun violence and visa woes

By Bhumika Ghimire
Column: Nepali in AmericaPublished: October 03, 2008

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West Lafayette, IN, United States, — A masked robber walked into a convenience store last Sunday and shot and killed 21-year-old Ashok Bhattarai, a Nepali student who was working in the store in Missouri City, Texas. According to news reports, the killer just walked in, shot him with a rifle, and escaped with US$5,000.
Bhattarai, who had been living in the United States for a year, has become another statistic in the growing list of innocent lives lost to senseless gun violence in the United States.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the right to own firearms for self-defense and to defend their property. America’s founding fathers probably thought that allowing people to defend themselves would ensure that no government or dictator would hold the country hostage to their rights and freedoms, and that guns would aid the people in fighting for their rights.

Unfortunately that right, which many Americans cherish, is causing many deaths, directly or indirectly, every year. According to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, more than 80 Americans die due to gun violence every day. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that 1.35 million high school students in 2007 were either threatened or injured with a weapon, on school property, at least once. It is believed that one can buy a gun at gun shows in 35 states without a background check.

Easily available guns and firearms are making life unsafe for everyone in the United States. From high schools to main streets, from university campuses to convenience stores, innocent people are becoming the targets of criminals for whom buying a gun or a combat-grade weapon is as easy as buying a can of soda.

Some states have introduced laws to conduct background checks and evaluate the mental health of persons, prior to any sale. However, buying a gun in the majority of states is fairly easy. For a criminal this is a godsend; he is free to arm himself to harm society.

Bhattarai is not the first victim of America’s gun violence nor is he the last. His murder only adds to the grim statistics, which lawmakers are ignoring. However, the epidemic of gun violence is not the only culprit in this case. America’s decaying immigration and enforcement system is also to blame.

Bhattarai was a student at the Houston Community College and had been in the country for about a year. His family is in Nepal. It is safe to assume that he was in the United States on a non-immigrant international student visa, or the F1 visa.According to immigration rules, students on F1 visas are not permitted to accept employment outside their college or university campus. If they are unable to finance their education, they can apply for a permit to work off campus. However, it is often difficult to convince the immigration authorities and besides, it is a time-consuming process. Therefore many students simply do not apply for the permit, but work off campus without one.

It is unfair to speculate whether Bhattarai had a permit to work at the convenience store where he was killed. However, if he was working off campus without a permit, then the local immigration authorities and the college should be held responsible. Local authorities could not have prevented his death, but strict enforcement of laws could have compelled Bhattarai to seek a safer job on campus.

Every year, hundreds of Nepali students come to America with big dreams. Their parents have even bigger expectations of them, and their one big hope is for their children to be financially independent within months of reaching U.S. shores, especially in economically hard-hit times.

These vulnerable students, pushed by their parents’ expectations and economic realities, are desperate to find jobs. Working at a gas station or a convenience store is not the same as taking a walk in the park. Armed robberies and break-ins are real threats, which these students generally ignore.

Such tragedies can be prevented if universities and immigration authorities take this issue seriously and ensure that students don’t accept off-campus jobs without a permit. And if they are given permits, then local law enforcement authorities should make such environments safe.

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(Bhumika Ghimire is a freelance reporter. Her articles have been published in OhMyNews, NepalNews, Toward Freedom, Telegraph Nepal, Himal South Asian and ACM Ubiquity. She is also a regular contributor to News Front Weekly (Nepal) and Nepal Abroad (Washington D.C.). She can be reached at bhumika_g@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Bhumika Ghimire)



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but strict enforcement of laws could have compelled Bhattarai to seek a safer job on campus.

A safer job on campus? You mean like at Virginia Tech where a Korean immigrant went berserk and killed dozens of people? Who knows, the guy who killed Bhattarai in this case might be an illegal or anchor baby.

Our immigration system is a joke. It seems their job is only to keep the gates open to allow them to come in and nothing else.

The taxpayer's subsidize higher education. Even if they pay their own tuition, etc., it doesn't cover the entire cost. Why are we spending our money to education foreign students?

We are importing workers for jobs like RN's and teachers - why aren't we making education available for our own people?

It seems this country is being operated for the benefit of everyone and everything - except it's citizens.

It also seems our government is doing nothing. We are getting poison and sickening food from overseas, we are getting tainted meat and veggies, we are getting dangerous drugs, immigration is a joke. Why exactly are we paying for the department's whose job it is to keep this from happening?

If this thief didn't have a gun, he would have used something else. I'm tired of guns being blamed for people's behavior.

Such tragedies can be prevented if universities and immigration authorities take this issue seriously and ensure that students don’t accept off-campus jobs without a permit. And if they are given permits, then local law enforcement authorities should make such environments safe.

Oh??? What about me as a citizen working there??? Law enforcement shouldn't make these "environments" as safe???