Results 1 to 4 of 4
Like Tree8Likes

Thread: Trump’s Crackdown on Students Who Overstay Visas Rattles Higher Education

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    California
    Posts
    65,443

    Trump’s Crackdown on Students Who Overstay Visas Rattles Higher Education

    By Erica L. Green
    May 24, 2018

    The Trump administration plans to crack down on international students and visitors who overstay their visas, stoking fears in the higher education community that President Trump’s aggressive immigration policies will hinder university efforts to attract the brightest minds from overseas.

    In a policy memorandum, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this month that it plans to change how it calculates “unlawful presence” for foreigners in the student visa and exchange program. It will also impose harsher punishments — up to a 10-year ban from the country — for graduates who overstay their visas.

    The policy, due to take effect in August, has been criticized by higher education institutions and student advocates who say the change shows the indiscriminate nature of the Trump administration’s “America First” policies. They say Mr. Trump’s aggressive immigration efforts are shutting out the nation’s leading scholars, who contribute billions of dollars to the economy in the United States, staff its leading research institutions, support its most high-skilled jobs, and contribute to the president’s own goal of strengthening the pipeline to science, technology, mathematics and engineering jobs.

    “It is clear that in an attempt to ‘enhance public safety,’ the administration seeks to further close the door on academic talent,” said Jill Welch, the deputy executive director for public policy at Nafsa, the Association of International Educators. “This is yet another policy which makes the United States less attractive to talented international students and scholars.”

    So far, the president has focused his policy efforts on the nation’s borders, and his harshest rhetoric has targeted gang members. But Mr. Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 signaling that visa overstays would also be a target.

    “Many aliens who illegally enter the United States and those who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas present a significant threat to national security and public safety,” the order said.

    It is estimated that overstays account for as many as half of the undocumented immigrants in the country, and the most recent figures released by the Department of Homeland Security show that student and exchange visitors had the highest overstay rate — 2.8 percent — among nonimmigrant visitors to the United States.

    Immigration officials said the new policy aligned with the executive order.

    In a statement announcing the policy, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, L. Francis Cissna, said that visa holders “are admitted to the United States for a specific purpose, and when that purpose has ended, we expect them to depart, or to obtain another, lawful immigration status.”

    The proposed rules would target F and M visas, which are overwhelmingly used by international students to enter academic and vocational institutions of higher education, as well as J-1 visas, which allow students, professors and visitors to participate in short-term cultural exchange programs.

    Under the new policy, the government would begin to calculate what is called “unlawful presence” from the date that visa holders’ purpose in the country has expired, such as the end of their studies. Under the current policy, put in place 20 years ago, that calculation started once the government discovered the violation.

    The new policy would also be less forgiving. Visa holders found to be in the country illegally for more than 180 days would be barred from re-entry for three to 10 years, depending on the length of their overstay. The current policy usually allows students to go back to their country and apply for a new visa, or update their visa status and return.

    The harsh penalties are especially jarring because small mistakes could now carry big consequences, said Angelo A. Paparelli, an immigration lawyer at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, a firm based in Los Angeles.

    “For immigration attorneys, because time is of the essence, if the three- or 10-year bar is triggered, there’s not much you can do,” he said.

    It is common for students to fall out of compliance while awaiting a new visa or transitioning to a new one, Mr. Paparelli said. Students who use visas to stay and work after completing their degrees are particularly vulnerable. Determining whether their jobs meet certain requirements to stay is subjective. Their violations could be applied retroactively, and subject them to an automatic ban, he said.

    “The effect of this change will be felt by businesses,” he added. “It will foreclose what have been standard approaches to transitioning from student to worker, whether that’s on an H1-B or some other work visa category, or the transition to permanent residence.”

    Administrators who work with international students worry that they will be punished for life events that domestic students are usually supported through. Many students fall out of status because of extenuating circumstances, such as temporarily dropping below a full course load because of mental health issues, leaving school temporarily for a family emergency or picking up a part-time job to help with family finances.

    “A lot of this impacts things that happen when students are in crisis, when status is the last thing on their minds,” said Katie Tudini, the director for international student services at the University at Buffalo.

    Adam Julian, the director of international student and scholar services and outreach at Appalachian State University, said international students are among the most scrutinized populations in the immigration system because their visas require constant reporting of enrollment information, such as addresses and full-time status in school. But now, even the smallest miscommunication with school officials could lead to a violation.

    “We’ve always stressed compliance with students; that’s not changing,” Mr. Julian said. “But we will just be especially vigilant on advising students that this is the new reality: The U.S. is ultimately going to be a country that does not want to benefit from everything that international scholars have to offer.”

    College administrators have already noticed that the international talent pool is shrinking.

    Last fall, the Institute of International Education, which produces a report on international student enrollment trends, noted that in fall 2016, American higher education saw the first drop in new international students. The decline occurred at the end of the Obama administration, but also during the bitter presidential campaign. In a follow-up survey of 522 institutions one year later, the first international freshman class under Mr. Trump, the organization found a 7 percent decline in new international enrollments, with 45 percent of the institutions surveyed reporting a decrease.

    According to a biannual report issued last month by the Department of Homeland Security, there were more than one million international students seeking degrees in the United States.

    But there was a slight decline — 6,210 students, or 0.5 percent — in the number of students studying on F and M visas from March 2017 to March 2018. While the visa data included K-12 education, 85 percent of student visa holders attend colleges and universities. The report said that a majority of students seek bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, engineering or computer science. It also noted a sharp decline in the number of students coming from Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

    “These students and scholars are considered the most brilliant minds in their field, and they are not coming here with the intention to infringe the law and intentionally overstay in the country,” said Karen F. Da Silva, an international student advocate for the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/u...ent-visas.html
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    55,883
    GO TRUMP GO!!!
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    30,906
    Issue a Warrant for Arrest the day after ANY Visa expires.

    They have violated our Federal Immigration and Visa Laws.

    Have their fingerprint on file when they come into our country.

    Deport with no chance to return for 10 years.


    I PREFER A 10 YEAR MORATORIUM ON ALL IMMIGRATION UNTIL WE DEPORT THE 30 MILLLION OFF OUR SOIL WHO DO NOT BELONG HERE!

    THAT INCLUDES TPS, REFUGEES, ASYLUM LIARS, ILLEGAL ALIENS AND VISA OVERSTAYS!

    10 YEAR MORATORIUM TO FOCUS ON DEPORTING AND UPDATING OUR TRACKING SYSTEM!

    WE ARE BEING INVADED BY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT BELONG HERE!
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

  4. #4
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    30,906
    I propose a one-on-one Student Visa Exchange program


    For every "one" student we send to Africa to their schools...we will take ONE of their students

    For every "one" student we send to Mexico and Central America to attend their schools...we will take ONE of their students

    For every "one" student we send to Afghanistan to attend their schools...we will take ONE of their students

    Pass this bill...we are not the dumping ground for students around the world who want to come here, then lie, take our jobs...and never leave!

    Time to go diversify these countries...pass the baton...we are full up and fed up with paying the costs of this unrelenting invasion of our country.

    These countries need to take care of their own people and we need to cut off ALL foreign aid. Get them on the carpet, front and center, no more money! And no more dumping your people on our backs!


    THIS SHOULD APPLY FOR ALL OUR IMMIGRATION POLICIES...FOR EVERY ONE THAT GOES TO LIVE IN THEIR COUNTY...WE WILL TAKE ONE OF THEIRS.

    ONE-ON-ONE REPLACEMENT! NO MORE BRINGING IN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE...WHEN WE DO NOT HAVE MILLIONS WHO ARE LEAVING!

    NO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP TO FOREIGNERS GIVING BIRTH ON OUR SOIL.
    Last edited by Beezer; 05-25-2018 at 10:17 AM.
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

Similar Threads

  1. Trump orders crackdown on foreign students who overstay visas -- illegally
    By JohnDoe2 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 08-25-2017, 01:34 PM
  2. US cancels education visas of some Saudi students
    By JohnDoe2 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-22-2016, 06:47 PM
  3. U.S. Doesn’t Know How Many Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas
    By Jean in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-01-2016, 03:21 PM
  4. Effort to link immigrant students with higher education resources launches in Tucson
    By HAPPY2BME in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-29-2014, 01:42 PM
  5. U.S. Loses Track Of Millions Who Overstay Visas
    By AirborneSapper7 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-23-2011, 02:54 AM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •