The Washington Times
3600 New York Ave NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
yourletters[at]washingtontimes.com
To the Editor:
Your Nov. 5 story, “Sandy Blows a Reprieve to Illegals in U.S.,” by Jerry Seper, contains a serious misstatement of fact about the visa status of the Sept. 11 attackers. Only one of the 19 hijackers entered the country on a student visa; the other 18 had tourist or business visas. This has been confirmed by the 9/11 Commission, by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, now the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.
Continuing to repeat inaccuracies linking foreign student visas to Sept. 11 is inexcusable. More than 10 years later, your reporters and editors should know better. Please correct the error for the record. The truth is that international students are exhaustively tracked – more so than any other nonimmigrant visitor – and there is zero evidence that would-be terrorists use student visas more often than other types of visas to enter the United States.
America’s colleges and universities are among our greatest assets. The goodwill and connections of foreign students who have studied here in the United States and have gone home to assume leadership roles in their countries are immensely valuable to our security. We should never allow fear and misinformation to prevent us from projecting an open and engaged policy for international education.
Victor C. Johnson
Senior Adviser, Public Policy
NAFSA: Association of International Educators