Letter to the editor: International college students need your help, Josh Hawley

Help, Hawley

The state of the international student is on unstable ground in the United States because of recent actions by the Trump administration, such as last month’s executive order targeting H1-B visa holders.

And now U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is invoking deadly policies to try to force the hand of universities to open for face-to-face instruction. (July 6, KansasCity.com, “Students on visas must take in-person college classes or risk deportation, ICE says”) If their schools do not open campuses, students holding F-1 visas will be required to return to their home countries during a global health crisis.

These international students do not deserve to have their lives completely uprooted because of thinly veiled threats and political bargaining to force universities into pretending that the pandemic has ceased.

International students are the backbone of great American research and innovation. They are a vibrant part of the American higher education system. They choose to attend universities here because they believe in the American dream and the power of the United States’ innovation and success. Why do we continue to let them down?

Sen. Josh Hawley, I implore you, as a member of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, to speak up, protect our students and allow them to experience the American dream without putting their health and safety at risk.

- Rachel Padget, Odessa, Missouri