Foreign Student Advisory
national |
miscellaneous |
news report
Monday January 13, 2003 01:56
by Committee of Radical Attorneys (USA)
mediaship at lycos dot com
Students and scholars considering study in the US
All students should seek educational environments that are non-repressive and non-racist.
Foreign Student Advisory
Issued by the Committee of Radical Attorneys (USA)
January 11, 2003
All students should seek educational environments that are non-repressive and non-racist.
All students and scholars should be advised before contracting to attend educational institutions in the United States that, currently, colleges and universities are compelled by the U.S. government to comply with new laws and executive orders which place students and scholars who attend U.S. educational institutions in peril.
Prospective foreign students should be advised:
1. You may be subjected to arrest and indefinite detention, without probable cause, without right to legal counsel, or due process of law.
2. You will be racially profiled by immigration and law enforcement officials, particularly if your origins are Southwest Asian or North African--even if you were born in the U.S. (citizen) or a legal resident (non-citizen).
3. U.S. colleges and universities are now required to turn over personal data on foreign students to federal law enforcement agencies. This information includes academic standing, on-campus disciplinary actions (including reports of student participation in protected free speech activities), financial reports on students and their dependents,off-campus employment and the number of course hours and subjects studied. This information will be reported to federal law enforcement authorities and compiled in a national computer data bank known as SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visa Information Service). In short, foreign students and scholars will be tracked by law enforcement officials, and treated as suspects to crimes or immigration violations yet to be named.
4. You may be compelled, on pain of deportation, to inform on the political and/or religious thoughts and activities of fellow students.
Before contracting to attend any college or university in the United States at this time, prospective foreign students should:
A. Carefully weigh whether the educational resources in the United States at this time are more valuable than your civil liberties and freedom from race-driven victimization.
B. Make a criterion for the selection of a specific U.S. educational institution the publicly stated measures that a college or university pledges to take to protect its foreign students from federally mandated racial profiling, violation of privacy and subjection to capricious arrest and detention.
If you wish to attend an educational institution in the U.S. under the assumption that you will be availing yourself of a liberal and non-repressive learning atmosphere, then that asumption is false.
Be advised.
Please visit: http://www.shamon.com/cora for details and contact information.
Committee of Radical Attorneys
January 11, 2003
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Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1This was such a ridiculous piece that it needs a little rewording to correctly explain the situation to potential foreign students.
Prospective foreign students should be advised:
1. You may be subjected to arrest and indefinite detention, without probable cause, without right to legal counsel, or due process of law. IN OTHER WORDS, you may be subject to arrest/deportation for "status" offenses in addition to "crimes". Look over very carefully the conditions attached to being in the US on a "student visa" and do not come if you believe you will be unable to comply with those restrictions.
2. You will be racially profiled by immigration and law enforcement officials, particularly if your origins are Southwest Asian or North African--even if you were born in the U.S. (citizen) or a legal resident (non-citizen). YES, BUT VARIES REGIONALLY. Ask around in what parts of the US you are unlikely to be bothered much.
3. U.S. colleges and universities are now required to turn over personal data on foreign students to federal law enforcement agencies. This information includes academic standing, on-campus disciplinary actions (including reports of student participation in protected free speech activities), financial reports on students and their dependents,off-campus employment and the number of course hours and subjects studied. This information will be reported to federal law enforcement authorities and compiled in a national computer data bank known as SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visa Information Service). In short, foreign students and scholars will be tracked by law enforcement officials, and treated as suspects to crimes or immigration violations yet to be named. ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Of course a lot of the things listed are directly connected to the restrictions on "student visas". Thus if you flunk out you must leave the country. You can't work off campus (strictly speaking, you can't work on a "student visa", but a lot of on campus jobs don't count as disallowed work). You have to be carrying at least a certain number of courses/hours to be considered still a student and thus eligible to stay in the US on a "student visa". So OBVIOUSLY they need access to THIS data.
4. You may be compelled, on pain of deportation, to inform on the political and/or religious thoughts and activities of fellow students. YES -- if they catch you in a status violation they can apply all sorts of pressure. They CAN make "deals" and they can't always be trusted to keep them. In this situation make sure your legal representative knows how to make them keep their word (if you decide to inform in exchange for staying in the US).