Seeing the Elephant by Peter Marber

Author:Peter Marber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Immigration and Security

The 9/11 attacks and subsequent 2005 London subway bombings have made immigrants appear as the number one terrorist enemy of the Western world. There has been legislation to match this paranoia such as the U.S. Patriot Act requiring photographs and fingerprints of all foreigners entering the United States. Immigration law is now being used as an anti-terrorism tool. Considering that the bureau formerly in charge of immigration policy, Immigration and Naturalization Services, was folded under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella in 2003 and considering the extended wait times for visas, it appears that security—not labor markets—is the chief determinant of U.S. immigration policy post 9/11. But whether these moves actually increased security remains to be seen.

While a bit overblown, there has been a feeling that the biggest impact of post-9/11 legislation has been on the academic community including delaying or denying visas for students and professors from particular countries. According to an administrator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “there is growing anecdotal evidence that while our international student population is, by and large, very happy at school, they are ambivalent about being in the United States . . . [they] report a distinct feeling of unease about the political and cultural climate in the U.S.”57 The students who have traditionally come to the United States to study have been the best and brightest of their home countries. They are clearly intelligent and not oblivious to their environment. The combination of U.S. government legislation and xenophobia seems to be sending a sad but clear message: Go home.

From the moment an international student arrives, his every movement is tracked by the U.S. government through the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database that came about as part of the Patriot Act. The program is so comprehensive that it monitors the number of credit hours taken by a student, the student’s major, and other details about their whereabouts. But SEVIS is not only often inaccurate but also chronically out of date.58 In fact, the errors that result in students being detained at airports or other points of entry of the United States are just as, if not more, likely to be the fault of the system as the fault of the student.The burden of proof ends up falling on the student, with the Customs and Border Protection authorities automatically assuming guilty until proven innocent.

This trend is disconcerting given the importance of foreign students to the U.S. economy. International students contribute on average $14.5 billion to the United States annually.59 (See Figure 5.6.) Education is an export of sorts. And today’s international students are often tomorrow’s U.S. researchers and scientists. Nowadays, not only is it tough to study scientific fields in the United States, but it is even more difficult to stay after graduation. In some fields of science, including computer science, mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering, more overseas students are being awarded Ph.D. degrees than Americans. This is not a bad thing:The challenge for the United States is

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